Hermaphroditism in a violet snail, Janthina pallida (Gastropoda, Caenogastropoda): a contribution

• Published in: Biológia Vol. 74; no. 5; pp. 509 - 513
• Main Authors: Calabrò, Concetta, Rindone, Antonino, Bertuccio, Clara, Giacobbe, Salvatore
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-05-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Females; Food availability; Gonads; Hermaphroditism; Janthina pallida; Life Sciences; Microbiology; Oocytes; Oogenesis; Plant Sciences; Population density; Short Communication; Spermatogenesis; Spermatozoa; Straits; Zoology; Reproduction; Spermatozeugma; Hermaphroditism
• ISSN: 0006-3088; 1336-9563
• DOI: 10.2478/s11756-018-00177-9

The first data are provided on the gonad development of the violet snail
Janthina pallida
Thompson, 1840. Histological investigations were carried out on twenty-two specimens cast ashore alive in the Straits of Messina (central Mediterranean). All specimens had an ovotestis with distinct male and female gonads. In large individuals, germinative cells in different stages of spermatogenesis and flagellate spermatozoa were detected, together with oocytes in different stages of oogenesis and mature oocytes; in small specimens only immature male and female gonads were observed. No specimens of intermediate size were found. Simultaneous rather than size-related hermaphroditism in
J. pallida
contrasts with the current view of protandric hermaphroditism as a common trait in
Janthina
genus, instead suggesting a changing reproductive pattern, driven by population density and food availability.