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Ovary structure and oogenesis in Cirratulus cirratus (Polychaeta: Cirratulidae)

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Abstract

Oogenesis in polychaetes has, in most species, two main phases: a coelomic phase during which vitellogenesis occurs, and an ovarian phase. Details of the latter are known in very few species. Efficient reproduction requires coordination between these two phases of oocyte differentiation. The ovaries of Cirratulus cirratus (O. F. Müller) occur 2/segment throughout the fertile region of the body; 5 main stages of oocyte differentiation can be recognised on them: stem cells, oogonia, premeiotic oocytes, early oocytes and terminal oocytes. A quantitative study of the composition of the ovary throughout the reproductive cycle shows that the ovary size is approximately constant, but that the percentage of cells in the terminal oocyte stage is reduced to zero prior to spawning. This stage in oocyte differentiation is therefore a critical one, at which oogenesis may be arrested. The ovary alternates between a proliferative phase when the terminal oocytes are present, and a non-proliferative phase when they are absent. The overall rate of germ cell production for each ovary is low, less than 1 cell/ovary/day, and the, ovary tissue turnover time is greater than 2 years. A qualitative model describing the production of oocytes is presented, and the implications of the low rate of germ cell production are discussed. A low rate of germ cell proliferation, as in Cirratulus cirratus, implies that the rate of oocyte output into the coelom will be controlled by factors influencing the later stages of ovarian oocyte differentiation.

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Author notes

  1. P. J. W. Olive

    Present address: Dove Marine Laboratory, Cullercoats Bay, Tynemouth, Northumberland, England

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England

    P. J. W. Olive

  2. Dove Marine Laboratory, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England

    P. J. W. Olive

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Communicated by J. H. S. Blaxter, Oban

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Olive, P.J.W. Ovary structure and oogenesis in Cirratulus cirratus (Polychaeta: Cirratulidae). Marine Biology 8, 243–259 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00355223

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