Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

Incidence of imposex in the muricid gastropod Chicoreus virgineus from Tuticorin, southeast coast of India

Volume 45 Issue 2

A. Murugan and M. Santhana Ramasamy

Abstract

The muricid gastropod Chicoreus virgineus from Tuticorin area of Gulf of Mannar, southeast coast of India has been studied for expression of imposex. The frequency of imposex in females of C. virgineus collected from Tuticorin Port was 82.3%. The stage 2a, i.e. penis with closed penis duct was predominant with 64.7%. The male: female sex ratio has deviated from normal and was 2.5:l. The RPSI value of 3.2% and RPLI value of 32.0% have been recorded. 11.8% of the females with imposex exhibited the stage 4, which is considered as the last fertile stage of imposex. But no occlusion of genital pore was observed in the present study. Interestingly no imposex was observed in C. virgineus from Vellapatti area, which is located approximately 15 km north of Tuticorin Port.

Date : 30-12-2003