Hostname: page-component-68945f75b7-tmfhh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-05T17:07:41.498Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Observations on the development of the male reproductive system in Gyrodactylus gasterostei Gläser, 1974 (Monogenea, Gyrodactylidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

P. D. Harris
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham B15 2TT

Summary

The development of the male reproductive system in Gyrodactylus gasterostei has been followed using parasites of known age maintained on isolated hosts. The penis develops shortly after the parasite has given birth for the first time (at an age of 24–30 h at 13°C) and the first active spermatozoa appear after 40–50 h. Spermatogenesis occurs more rapidly in G. gasterostei than in any other parasitic flatworm (including those from warm-blooded hosts) in which it has been measured, and the onset of male maturity is further hastened by a reduction in the number of pre-spermatogenic germ cell divisions. Spermatogonia have a diploid chromosome complement of 12, and spermatocytes undergo meiosis to produce haploid spermatozoa. No evidence of aneuploidy in spermatozoa was obtained. Although the development of haploid spermatozoa suggests that sexual reproduction can occur, production of embryos by isolated flukes which lack a mature male system indicates that other means of reproduction may also be employed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alvey, C. H. (1936). The morphology and development of the monogenetic trematode Sphyranura oligorchis (Alvey, 1933) and the description of Sphyranura polyorchis n.sp. Parasitology 28, 229–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benazzi, M. & Benazzi-Lentati, G. (1976). Animal cytogenetics, vol. 1. Platyhelminthes. Berlin and Stuttgart: Gebruder Borntraeger.Google Scholar
Benazzi-Lentati, G. (1970). Gametogenesis and egg fertilisation in planarians. International Review of Cytology 27, 101–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, F. (1966). Beiträge zur mikroskopischen Anatomie und Fortpflanzungsbiologie von Gyrodactylus wageneri. V. Nrd. 1832. Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde 28, 142–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bychowsky, B. E. (1957). Monogenetic Trematodes, their Systematics and Phytogeny. Moscow and Leningrad: Academy of Sciences, USSR (In Russian.) English translation by W. J. Hargis and P. C. Oustinoff (1961). Washington: American Institute of Biological Sciences.Google Scholar
Finlayson, J. E. (1982). The alleged alternation of sexual phases in Kuhnia scombri, a monogenean of Scomber scombrus. Parasitology 84, 303–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gille, O. K. (1914). Untersuchungen über die Eireifung, Befruchtung and Zellteilung von Gyrodactylus elegans. v. Nrd. Archiv für Zellforschung 12, 415–56.Google Scholar
Grey, A. J. & Mackiewicz, J. E. (1980). Chromosomes of caryophyllidean cestodes: Diploidy, triploidy and parthenogenesis in Glaridacris catostomi. International Journal for Parasitology 10, 397407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haight, M., Davidson, D. & Pasternak, J. (1977). Relationship between nuclear morphology and the phases of the cell cycle during cercarial development of the digenetic trematode Trichobilharzia ocellata. Journal of Parasitology 63, 267–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halton, D. W. & Hardcastle, A. (1976). Spermatogenesis in a monogenean, Diclidophora merlangi. International Journal for Parasitology 6, 4353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, P. D. (1982). Studies on the biology of the Gyrodactyloidea (Monogenea). Ph.D. thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Harris, P. D. (1983). The morphology and life-cycle of the oviparous Oögyrodactylus farlowellae gen. et sp.nov. (Monogenea, Gyrodactylidea). Parasitology 76, 405–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humason, G. L. (1979). Animal Tissue Techniques, 4th Ed.San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Janicki, C. Von (1903). Beziehungen zwischen Chromatin und Nucleolen während der Furchung des Eis von Gyrodactylus elegans von Nrdm. Zoologischer Anzeiger 26, 241–5.Google Scholar
Katheriner, L. (1904) Ueber die Entwicklung von Gyrodactylus elegans v. Nordmann. Zoologischer Jahrbuch Suppl. 7, 519–51.Google Scholar
Kearn, G. C. (1970). The production, transfer and assimilation of spermatophores by Entobdella soleae, a monogenean skin parasite of the common sole. Parasitology 60, 301–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khalil, L. F. (1970). Further studies on Macrogyrodactylus polypteri, a monogenean on the African freshwater fish Polypterus senegalus. Journal of Helminthology 44, 329–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kritsky, D. C. (1976). Observations on the ultrastructure of spermatozoa and spermiogenesis in the monogenean Gyrodactylus ecualiae Ikezaki and Hoffman, 1957. Proceedings of the Institute of Biology And Pedology, Far East Science Centre, Academy of Sciences of the USSR 34, 70–3.Google Scholar
Lester, R. J. & Adams, J. R. (1974). Gyrodactylus alexanderi: reproduction, mortality and effect on its host Gasterosteus aculeatus. Canadian Journal of Zoology 52, 827–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Llewellyn, J. (1983). Sperm transfer in the monogenean gill parasite Gastrocotyle trachuri. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B 219, 439–46.Google Scholar
Llewellyn, J. & Anderson, M. (1984). The functional morphology of the copulatory apparatus of Ergenstrema labrosi and Ligophorus angustus, monogenean gill parasites of Chelon labrosus. Parasitology 88, 17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackenzie, K. (1970). Gyrodactylus unicopula Glukhova, 1955 from young plaice Pleuronectes platessa L., with notes on the ecology of the parasite. Journal of Fish Biology 2, 2334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackiewicz, J. S. & Jones, A. W. (1969). The chromosomes of Hunterella nodulosa Mackiewicz and McCrae, 1962 (Cestoidea: Caryophyllidea). Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington 36, 126–31.Google Scholar
Malmberg, G. (1956). On a new genus of viviparous monogenetic trematodes. Arkiv für Zoologie 10, 317–29.Google Scholar
Malmberg, G. (1964). Taxonomic and ecological problems in Gyrodactylus. In Parasitic Worms and Ecological Conditions, (ed. Ergens, R. and Rysavy, B.). Prague: Czechoslovak Academy of Science.Google Scholar
Mizelle, J. D. & Kritsky, D. C. (1967). Studies on monogenetic trematodes XXX. Five new species of Gyrodactylus from the Pacific Tomcod Microgadus proximus (Girard). Journal of Parasitology 53, 263–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nollen, P. M. (1983). Patterns of sexual reproduction among parasitic platyhelminths. Parasitology 86, 99120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nollen, P. M. & pyne, J. L. (1979). Observations on spermatogenesis and inseminative behaviour of Megalodiscus temperatus in frogs. Journal of Parasitology 65, 35–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pantin, C. F. A. (1964). Microscopical Technique for Zoologists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Scott, M. E. (1982). Reproductive potential of Gyrodactylus bullatarudis (Monogenea) on guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Parasitology 85, 217–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turnbull, E. R. (1956). Gyrodactylus bullatarudis n.sp. from Lebistes reticulatus Peters with a study of its life cycle. Canadian Journal of Zoology 34, 583–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar