Abstract
In marine prawns, spermatophores aid in sperm transfer. The prawn spermatophores, in general, consist of two parts, sperm sac and wing. The former encloses spermatozoa and the latter serves as an adhesive pad during transfer to the female's thelycum. This paper reports on the occurrence of acid mucopolysaccharides (AMPS) in the spermatophores of two penaeid prawns, Penaeus indicus (Milne-Edwards) and Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius). They, being the principal component of the spermatophores, have been characterized and quantified in the wing, sperm mass, sperm sac, and crystalline structures. In both prawns, the spermatophore is a simple structure. In P. indicus, it consists of sperm mass, enclosed within sperm sac, to which is attached the foliacious wing. In M. monoceros, the freshly extruded spermatophore consists of sperm mass and milky-white crystalline structures. Isolation and purification of AMPS resulted in the resolution of two toluidine blue-positive AMPS fractions in agarose-gel electrophoresis. Densitometric study of the standard and sample AMPS fractions reveals further that the two fractions correspond to chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid. Quantitative assay on total AMPS shows that the sperm sac of P. indicus contains the maximum amount of AMPS (195.50 μg/mg), whereas its wing contains the least quantity of AMPS (43.68 μg/mg). The qualitative and quantitative variations found in the AMPS content of spermatophoric components of two prawns have been discussed in relation to their adhesion to thelycum as well as sperm storage and maintenance pending fertilization.
Published Version
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