Abstract
The sperm of Acanthodoris pilosa were examined in fresh preparations, histochemically stained samples, electronmicroscope sections, and in paraffin sections of the whole reproductive mass. Sperm are morphologically the same in the ampulla (vas deferens) and the spermatotheca and spermatocyst (bursae for sperm received during copulation). The electron micrographs show sperm with a long spiralled, fibrous, nuclear head with non-fibrous tongue-like acrosome. The tail, attached directly to the posterior of the head, has a 9+2 filamentous arrangement surrounded by a spiralled sheath which contains mitochondria and granular thread running the length of the tail. The thin-walled ampulla contains non-motile sperm and no energy sources such as polysaccharides and lipids. The bursae hold motile sperm and, with histochemical stains, were shown to contain polysaccharide droplets in walls and lumen. The lack of self-fertilization in nudibranchs appears to be associated with a physiological immaturity of the sperm in the hermaphroditic duct, where egg and sperm meet as they leave the ovotestis.
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