Lab Work

O. angasi Papers

Today, Laura gave me a quick runthrough of her project and few papers to read in order to prepare for the histology analysis that I will be doing on the O. angasi samples that she collected from Australia. Below are some general key points that I gathered from these papers on how to determine oyster gonad sex and stage (links to the papers are highlighted in blue):

1. Differences in gametogenic cycle among strains of the European flat oyster Ostrea edulis and relationship between gametogenesis and bonamiosis
   1. Gonad Sex
      • this section was broken down into 6 categories:
        1. Indeterminate (I) - only collaped/empty follicles
        2. Male solely (M) - only male gonad material in follicle
        3. Female solely (F) - only female gonad material in follicle
        4. Hermaphrodite with both sexes equally represented (HBS) - half female and half male gonad material in follicle
        5. Hermaphrodite predominantly male (HPM) - mostly male gonad material in follicle, but some female gonad material also present
        6. Hermaphrodite predominantly female (HPF) - mostly female gonad material in follicle, but some male gonad material also present
   2. Gonad Stage
      • This category was broken down into 6 stages:
        1. Inactive or resting gonad
        2. Early gametogenesis
        3. Advanced gametogenesis
        4. Ripe gonad
        5. Partially spawned gonad
        6. Reabsorbing gonad
2. OBERVATIONS OF GONAD STRUCTURE AND GAMETOGENIC TIMING IN A RECOVERING POPULATION OF OSTREA LURIDA (CARPENTER 1864)
   1. Gonad Sex
      • The gonad sex determination in this paper is the same as the paper above
   2. Gonad Stage
      • The gonad stage determination in this paper is similar to the paper above
3. Factors effecting reproduction and larval development of Ostrea angasi (Sowerby 1871): Advancing hatchery production
   1. Gonad Sex
      • gonad sex was broken down into 6 categories, with 2 subcategories for spent/spawning males and females:
        1. spent/spawning males
           • developing male - spermatogonium, spermatocyte balls, and a few spermatozoa balls present
           • ripe male - mostly spermatozoa balls present, few spermatocyte balls, and no spermatogonium
        2. spent/spawning female
           • developing female - oogonia and developing oocytes present; no free oogonia
           • ripe female - free oogonia present
        3. predominantly male (mostly sperm present)
        4. predominantly female (mostly oocyte present)
        5. non-defined
   2. Gonad stage
      • This paper did not provide information on how they determined gonad stage
4. Gametogenesis, sex ratio and energy metabolism in Ostrea angasi: implications for the reproductive strategy of spermcasting marine bivalves
   1. Gonad Sex
      • The sex determination was simply divided into four categories: male, female, hermaphrodite, and undifferentiated. Oysters containing larvae were automatically categorized as female unless they also contained spermatozeugmata.
   2. Gonad Stage
      • The gonad stage was broken down into 5 categories:
        1. resting gonad
        2. early gametogenesis
        3. advanced gametogenesis
        4. mature gonad
        5. spawned gonad
      • descriptions of the stages are not provided in the text, but images associated to each of the stages are

Next Steps

1. Continue to read papers given by Laura more in-depth
2. Begin to look at images and practice determining oyster gonad sex and stage of development with Laura