Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:10:21.115Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Gametogenesis and Breeding in a Natural Population of Nereis Virens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

A. E. Brafield
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, London, W. 8
G. Chapman
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Queen Elizabeth College, London, W. 8

Extract

Studies of a natural population of N. virens Sars at Southend reveal that the oocytes take a little over a year to mature. After a period of relative quiescence they grow rapidly between September and December and then increase little in size until early May. Within a given specimen small oocytes are more variable in size than large ones. Sperm develop fully from coelomic sperm plates in about eight months, and are mature by the beginning of May. There is a period during which they are characteristically clumped in quartets.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1967

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

Clark, R. B., 1961. The origin and formation of the heteronereis. Biol. Rev., Vol. 36, pp. 199236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, R. B., 1965. Endocrinology and the reproductive biology of polychaetes. Oceanogr. mar. Biol., Vol. 3, pp. 211–55.Google Scholar
Clark, R. B., 1966. The integrative action of a worm's brain. Symp. Soc. exp. Biol., Vol. 20, pp. 345–80.Google ScholarPubMed
Clark, R. B. & Ruston, R. J. G., 1963. The influence of brain extirpation on oogenesis in the polychaete Nereis diversicolor. Gen. comp. Endocr., Vol. 3, pp. 529–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dales, R. P., 1950. The reproduction and larval development of Nereis diversicolor O. F. Müller. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 29, pp. 321–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyner, A., 1962. Reproduction and larval life of Nerine cirratulus (Delle Chiaje) Family Spionidae. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., Vol. 138, pp. 655–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, B. J. R., 1965. The analysis of polymodal frequency distributions. J. Anim. Ecol., Vol. 34, pp. 445–52.Google Scholar