**1. Introduction**

The studies on semen cryopreservation from Brazilian freshwater fish had its beginning in the 1980s with *Prochilodus scrofa* = *P. lineatus* e *Salminus maxillosus* = *S. brasiliensis* species [1]. Basically, the freezing solution used was composed by dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) as permeating and

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

glucose as nonpermeating cryoprotectant. Other fish species have been studied at that period, such as *Rhamdia hilarii = R. quelen* [2] and *Leporinus silvestrii* [3].

The 1990s began with the studies focused on the species target as potential for production in the fish farming scenario at that time, the *Piaractus mesopotamicus* [4, 5]. However, during this decade, there were virtually no further researches in the area and only in 1999 a study with *Colossoma macropomum* [6] was published. However, the study considered the major milestone in fish semen cryopreservation in Brazil was carried out by Carolsfeld et al. [7], who published a series of compiled results describing the freezing protocols for native species, most of them still being used nowadays. Currently, around 20 Brazilian freshwater species have their semen cryopreserved, some even have different protocols [8], or small variations from the protocols described by Carolsfeld et al. [7].

The studies that guided the composition of a future protocol for fish semen freezing produced a lack of originality, resulting in little progress to date. Some factors have contributed to this scenario, such as: the small number of researchers working in the area; restriction of modern equipment; reduced scientific exchange with international groups and even the lack of criteria for distribution of public resources that result in numerous similar publications without significant progress.

This chapter is not intended to point out the successes and mistakes that may have been committed in the pursuit of development of cryopreservation protocols for fish semen in Brazil, but a reflection on the future directions considering what should be pondered on this subject with objectivity and scientific consolidation.
