On the sexual biology of Pandalus borealis(Crustacea decapoda) II. The termination of the male phase

Abstract

Pandalus borealis Krøyer is a protandric hermaphrodite. In some populations, e.g. that found off the Northumberland coast, the hermaphroditism is partial (Allen, 1959). That is to say only certain individuals undergo sex reversal, while others are primary females, never going through a male phase; all the males undergo sex reversal. In the terminology proposed by Carlisle (1959 a) such populations exhibit partial obligatory protandric hermaphroditism. By contrast, the population of the Gullmarf jord, Sweden, which I have been investigating, appears to exhibit full obligatory protandric hermaphroditism: the population contains no primary females; all the females have passed through a male phase. The data presented in this paper have no bearing, therefore, on the factors regulating the production of primary females, since I have never encountered one.