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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Gordon Watson, Dr Fritha LangfordORCiD, Sylvie-Marylene Gaudron, Emeritus Professor Matt Bentley
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Endocrine and environmental factors control reproduction of the polynoid scale worm Harmothoe imbricata. We confirmed that the rate of vitellogenesis was greater in winter specimens transferred from ambient regimes of photoperiod and temperature to a light:dark (LD) photoperiod of 16:8 at 10 degrees C and showed that the number of females spawning was significantly greater than for those transferred to LD8:16 at 10 degrees C. The endocrine mediation of this response was investigated using prostomium implantations. Significantly more LD8:16 females implanted with prostomia from LD16:8 conditioned females spawned than LDS:16 females implanted with LDX:16 prostomia. Females without prostomia failed to spawn. LD16:8 exposure may increase levels of a possible "spawning hormone" in the prostomium. Spawning proceeded in these LD16:8 females and allowed spawning to occur in LD8:16 females implanted with LD16:8 prostomia. In LDS:16 prostomia, titers of the spawning hormone reached the threshold in significantly fewer individuals, so that significantly fewer females implanted with LD8:16 prostomia spawned. Using Y-maze choice chambers, pair formation was shown to be under pheromonal control, with males being attracted to mature females but not to females carrying fertilized oocytes or to LD8:16 conditioned females. Production of this attraction pheromone can, therefore, be manipulated through photoperiodic control, suggesting a link between oogenesis, spawning, and pheromone production.
Author(s): Watson GJ, Langford FM, Gaudron SM, Bentley MG
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Biological Bulletin
Year: 2000
Volume: 199
Issue: 1
Pages: 50-58
ISSN (print): 0006-3185
ISSN (electronic): 1939-8697
Publisher: Marine Biological Laboratory
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1542706
DOI: 10.2307/1542706
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