W.A. Bray, A.L. Lawrence-1998
Aquaculture, 160 (1-2): 63-67 (from Current Contents)
Abstract:
Short term storage up to 36 h was evaluated for male gonad tissue of the marine shrimp, Penaeus vannamei, for use in sperm gross morphology evaluations. Additionally, seawater was compared with Ca-free saline solution as the medium for tissue storage and for sperm homogenization. A baseline sample of P. vannamei males (48.3 g +/- 2.75 s.d., It = 9) was taken with freshly ejaculated spermatophores and evaluated for sperm counts and percent morphologically abnormal sperm. Baseline values of mean sperm of 52.00 X 10(6) +/- 8.24 s.e. and mean abnormal sperm of 32.09% +/- 9.93 were obtained. Thirty additional males were sacrificed and their carapace sections (without hepatopancreas and tail section) were placed into either seawater or a Ca-free saline solution in an incubator at 15 degrees C for 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 h. There were no significant differences in either sperm counts or percent abnormal sperm observed at each time period (alpha = 0.05) indicating that either seawater or Ca-free saline can be used as the homogenate medium and as the storage medium for gonadal tissue to be used in gross morphology determinations. In addition, samples taken at each time interval were compared with the baseline sample. There were no significant differences between the freshly ejaculated spermatophores and spermatophores stored up to 36 h at 15 degrees C for total sperm counts or percent abnormal determinations.
(Texas A&M Univ. Syst., Texas Agr. Expt. Stn., Shrimp Mariculture Project, 1300 Port St., Port Aransas, TX 78373, USA)