The problem of sexual bipotentiality as exemplified by teleosts

Most of the work on sex differentiation is devoted to studies on amniotes with particular emphasis on mammals. Our present picture of sex differentiation is formed by the contributions of geneticists, embryologists and endocrinologists. For decades there has been a controversy as to whether sex steroids or (hypothetical) inductor substances play a major role in the process of sex differentiation. The discovery of the H-Y antigen has reanimated this discussion. It is proposed that the use of ambisexual teleost species as unique models of sexual organization in vertebrates might help in further studies to elucidate problems that have never been solved. Among these are: how long can a given germ cell retain its sexual bipotentiality and what are the mechanisms restricting its developmental potency to one sex only.