Intersex females in the red claw freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus (Decapoda, Parastacidae).

VAZQUEZ, F.J. AND L. S. LÓPEZ GRECO. 2007

Revista de Biología Tropical (Internacional Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation)

UNIVERSIDAD DE COSTA RICA

Lugar: SAN JOSE DE COSTA RICA; Año: 2007 vol. 55 p. 25 - 32

Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1868) is a large freshwater Parastacidae crayfish species native of north-west Queensland and the Northern Territory of Australia that typically exhibits a gonochoristic sexual system, although in cultured populations various types of intersex individuals have been described as functional males. In the present study, the macroscopic morphology and the gonadal histology of one type of intersex are described and discussed. All intersexes having both pairs of genital openings (female and male openings) and lacking both appendix masculinae and red patches were functional females with normal ovaries and oviducts. From an histological point of view, they did not differ from normal females having previtellogenic and/or vitellogenic ovaries according to size. These findings have many interesting perspectives for the monosex culture of this species. Additionally, the different patterns of intersexuality in Parastacidae species are compared and discussed.