ELECTRICAL INDUCTION OF SPAWNING IN TWO MARINE INVERTEBRATES (URECHIS UNICINCTUS, HERMAPHRODITIC MYTILUS EDULIS)

Gamete Release and Spawning Behavior in Broadcast Spawning Marine Invertebrates

The release of eggs and sperm into the environment for external fertilization is common (Giese & Kanatani 1987) and thought to be the ancestral mating strategy (Wray 1995). Most phyla have at least some species that release sperm into the environment (free spawning or spermcasting) and a majority have representatives that also release eggs (broadcast spawning) for external fertilization (Levita...

Speciation genes in free-spawning marine invertebrates.

Research on speciation of marine organisms has lagged behind that of terrestrial ones, but the study of the evolution of molecules involved in the adhesion of gametes in free-spawning invertebrates is an exception. Here I review the function, species-specificity, and molecular variation of loci coding for bindin in sea urchins, lysin in abalone and their egg receptors, in an effort to assess th...

Anti-BACE1 and Antimicrobial Activities of Steroidal Compounds Isolated from Marine Urechis unicinctus

The human β-site amyloid cleaving enzyme (BACE1) has been considered as an effective drug target for treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, Urechis unicinctus (U. unicinctus), which is a Far East specialty food known as innkeeper worm, ethanol extract was studied by bioassay-directed fractionation and isolation to examine its potential β-site amyloid cleaving enzyme inhibitory an...

Spawning, copulation and inbreeding coefficients in marine invertebrates.

Patterns of population genetic variation have frequently been understood as consequences of life history covariates such as dispersal ability and breeding systems (e.g. selfing). For example, marine invertebrates show enormous variation in life history traits that are correlated with the extent of gene flow between populations and the magnitude of differentiation among populations at neutral ge...

Selective uptake of microplastics by a marine bivalve (Mytilus edulis).