Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/99842
Title: A histological study of reproduction in the serpulids Pomatoceros triqueter and Pomatoceros lamarckii (Annelida: Polychaeta)
Authors: Cotter, E.
O'Riordan, R.M. 
Myers, A.A.
Issue Date: 1-May-2003
Citation: Cotter, E.,O'Riordan, R.M.,Myers, A.A. (2003-05-01). A histological study of reproduction in the serpulids Pomatoceros triqueter and Pomatoceros lamarckii (Annelida: Polychaeta). Marine Biology 142 (5) : 905-914. ScholarBank@NUS Repository.
Abstract: The reproductive cycles of the serpulid polychaetes Pomatoceros lamarckii (Quatrefages, 1865, as Vermilia) and P. triqueter (Linnaeus, 1767, as Serpula triquetra) were studied by histological examination during 1999 and 2000 at Bantry Bay, south-west Ireland. Gametogenesis, sex ratios and hermaphroditism were also investigated. The male/female ratio in P. lamarckii was approximately equal, but in P. triqueter it deviated significantly in favour of females. There was no significant variation in the sex ratios throughout the year in either species. Results confirm that the species are protandric hermaphrodites. In P. lamarckii, but not in P. triqueter, sexual dimorphism was exhibited in body size, the females being larger than the males of the same species. In both species, the proportion of females increased with increasing body size. Simultaneous hermaphroditism was recorded in P. lamarckii, but not in P. triqueter. There was no clearly defined annual gametogenic cycle in either species. Both species appear to have an extended reproductive season, with numerous small-scale peaks in reproductive maturity that can vary annually. Spawning was broadly synchronous between sexes. Visual observation alone (i.e. without histology) was insufficient to accurately assess reproductive condition in individuals not in, or close to, a ripe state.
Source Title: Marine Biology
URI: http://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/99842
ISSN: 00253162
Appears in Collections:Staff Publications

Show full item record
Files in This Item:
There are no files associated with this item.

Google ScholarTM

Check


Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.