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Sex reversal and growth performance in juvenile females of the freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus (Parastacidae): effect of increasing temperature and androgenic gland extract in the diet

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Abstract

Monosex male culture of C. quadricarinatus is proposed for increasing yields because males reach a larger size at harvest than females. An experiment was done to evaluate the effects of androgenic gland extract and temperature on sex reversal and somatic growth in early juvenile females. Females were exposed to the following experimental conditions: C: control food and temperature maintained at 26 ± 1°C; HT (high temperature): control food and temperature maintained at 28.5 ± 1°C; VHT (very high temperature): control food and temperature maintained at 31 ± 1°C; AG: food with enriched with androgenic gland (1/10 dose for each juvenile per day) and temperature maintained at (26 ± 1)°C. The juveniles were weighed, sexed, and growth increment (GI) and growth rate (GR) were calculated twice a month. The HT and AG groups differed from the C group in GI and GR indicating a greater somatic growth. At the end of the experiment, the HT and AG groups had similar weight but only the HT group had enhanced oocyte diameter, with some vitellogenic oocytes compared to the C group. In the HT group, there was significant sex reversal, as indicated by development of male and intersex male characteristics in different individuals. Both temperature and AG diet have a high potential for culture of this species because of their enhancement of somatic growth; higher temperature increases the proportion of males, a desirable characteristic of cultured populations.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Dr. Amir Sagi (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel) for reviewing the manuscript and his comments and Dr. Christopher Tudge (Department of Biology, American University, Washington) and Dr. Raymond Bauer (Dept. of Biology, University of Louisiana, Lafayette) for their suggestions and great help with the English version. We also wish to thank Lic. Fernanda Vazquez (University of Buenos Aires) for her help with the slides. This work is part of an undergraduate scholarship by MSDB (University of Buenos Aires). This research was funded by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2004, project 953), UBACYT (projects X143 and X 458) and Antorchas Foundation (project 4248-138). We are grateful to anonymous reviewers for their critical comments to improve this manuscript.

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  1. Biology of Reproduction and Growth in Crustaceans, Department of Biodiversity and Experimental Biology, FCEyN, University of Buenos Aires, Cdad. Univ., C1428EHA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Mariana Sánchez De Bock & Laura Susana López Greco

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  1. Mariana Sánchez De Bock
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  2. Laura Susana López Greco
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Correspondence to Laura Susana López Greco.

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De Bock, M.S., López Greco, L.S. Sex reversal and growth performance in juvenile females of the freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus (Parastacidae): effect of increasing temperature and androgenic gland extract in the diet. Aquacult Int 18, 231–243 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-008-9239-x

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