Ultrastructure of the mature spermatozoon of the bivalve Scapharca broughtoni (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Arcidae) |
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Authors: | Zhu Jun-Quan Dahms Hans-Uwe Yang Wan-Xi |
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Affiliation: | aDepartment of Biology, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310012, China;bFaculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Ningbo University, Zhejiang 315211, China;cInstitute of Marine Biology, National Taiwan Ocean University, 2 Pei-Ning Road, Keelung 202, Taiwan |
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Abstract: | The ultrastructure of mature spermatozoa of the giant clam bivalve Scapharca broughtoni was investigated by transmission electron microscopy for the first time. The mature spermatozoon consists of a head which is composed of a cone-shaped acrosome, a round nucleus, and a tail region. A subacrosomal space contains an axial rod and a basal plate, the latter lying between the acrosome and the nucleus. Although the nucleus lacks an anterior invagination, an inverted shallow V-shaped posterior invagination is present within the nucleus. Within the middle portion of the spermatozoon lie five spherical mitochondria while the long whip-like end portion is composed of an axoneme with the typical 9 + 2 structure. Our conclusion is that the spermatozoon of S. broughtoni is of the type I anacrosomal “aquasperm”, and the morphology of acrosome and nucleus are an adaptation to external fertilization. |
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Keywords: | Scapharca broughtoni Spermatozoon Ultrastructure Bivalve reproduction Transmission electron microscopy |
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