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The Spermatozoon of Actinia Equina L. Var. Mesembryanthemum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

A. U. Larkman
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Portsmouth Polytechnic, King Henry I Street, Portsmouth, Hants
M. A. Carter
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Portsmouth Polytechnic, King Henry I Street, Portsmouth, Hants

Extract

Actinia equina var. mesembryanthemum, the beadlet anemone (Stephenson, 1935), is a very common and widely distributed littoral anthozoan, whose sexual reproduction shows several interesting characteristics. Adult sea anemones of both sexes brood planulae and more advanced developmental stages within the gastrovascular cavity, although earlier embryonic stages are rarely found brooded in this way. Chia & Rostron (1970) suggest that embryos are expelled from the parent female anemone at an early stage and pass through a free-living phase before re-entering anemones of either sex for brooding. However, recent work (Cain, 1974) suggests that juvenile anemones are genetically related to the adult anemones in which they are brooded, and also the distribution of genetic material during sexual reproduction appears to be abnormal (Carter & Thorp, 1979). In an attempt to achieve a better understanding of the unusual sexual reproduction of this species, an ultrastructural investigation of gametogenesis was undertaken. This paper describes the fine structure of the spermatozoon within the testis.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1980

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