The Genital Ducts of Some British Stenoglossan Prosobranchs

Abstract

The foregoing pages include an account of the anatomy and histology of the male and female genital ducts of Ocenebra erinacea, Nucella lapillus, Nassarius reticulatus and Buccinum undatum. Observations have also been made on the mode of functioning of the ducts and the formation of the egg capsules.In both male and female it is possible to divide the genital ducts into a narrow and thin-walled proximal section which leads from the gonad and opens into a thick-walled glandular distal region, and in this respect the Stenoglossa agree with the mesogastropods. Near the junction of these two portions, in the female, arises the gonopericardial duct, which puts the genital duct into communication with the pericardial cavity; in males this structure i s lost or reduced to a vestige lying in a similar position.In males the upper part of the proximal region of the genital duct is used as a vesicula seminalis and the epithelium is capable of taking up and digesting effete or superfluous sperm. Sperms are passed from it into the anterior, distal region during the act of copulation, and secretion from the glands is mixed with them and provides the medium in which they are transferred to the female. In Ocenebra and Nucella this glandular region, the prostate, extends only as far as the opening of the mantle cavity, from which a continuation of the duct, without glandular walls, runs to the penis. The entire distal half of the male duct shows evidence of having been derived from an open seminal groove such as is found in Littorina.

Autonomous changes in the swimming direction of sperm in the gastropodStrombus luhuanus

“…Our histological study revealed that the eusperm were tightly bound to the wall of the seminal receptacle by the head (Fig. 7B-D), as observed in other prosobranchs (Fretter, 1941;Roth, 1960;Giusti and Selmi, 1985). As this implied that straight or backward swimming might have a role in penetrating into the seminal receptacle or in detaching from its wall, respectively, we dissected the seminal receptacle from a mature female, prepared a fragment of its wall and observed the movement of sperm.…”

The rough tingleOcenebra erinacea (Neogastropoda: muricidae): An exhibitor of imposex in comparison toNucella lapillus

“…The anatomyand histology of the normal female (= stage 0; ~ without any male characteristics; Figs 2c, d) and of the male genital tract (Figs 2a,b) are described by Fretter (1941) and Fretter & Graham (1962). Some information is also given by Fioroni et al (1990) and Gibbs et al (1990).…”

Cycle et comportement de reproduction du neogasteropode Buccinum undatum L dans le golfe Saint-Laurent

“…Les travaux de Dakin ( 1912), de Fretter et Graham (1962) et de Hancock (1960de Hancock ( , 1967) ont traité certains aspects de la reproduction de B. undatum en Angleterre sans toutefois aborder en détail les périodes de copulation, de ponte et de gamétogénèse. L'anatomie et le fonctionnement des différents organes de reproduction avalent cependant déjà été étudiés (Dakin, 1912;Fretter, 1941 ;Fretter et Graham, 1962).…”

“…L'analyse histologique des gonades a aussi été effectuée pour compléter les données obtenues avec les indices gonosomatiques. L'histologie des gonades est souvent utilisée dans ce genre d'étude (Pearse, 1965;Webber et Giese 1969;Fenaux, 1970;Giese et Pearse, 1974;Lambert et Dehnel 1974;Grant et Tyler, 1983a,b) et constitue une technique précise pour cerner les périodes de ponte et de gamétogénèse ( Gonor, 1972 ;Grant et Tyler, 1983a,b Johansson ( 1953,1957) et de Houston ( 1976 c'est dans les études de Fretter ( 1941de Fretter ( ,1953 Dans ce dernier compartiment ils seront conservés jusqu'au passage des ovocytes dans la glande à albumine où la fécondation a probablement lieu (Fretter, 1941 Pesage des organes. Une fois fixés, le poids total des tissus (sans coquille) a été déterminé à ± 0,01 g après avoir épongé le spécimen sur du papier buvard.…”