Spermatogenesis in the salps Thalia democratica and Cyclosalpa affinis (Tunicata: Thaliacea): An electron microscopic...

The fine structure of the male germinal cells in testes of two salps, Thalia democratica and Cyclosalpa affinis, is identical. The earliest germ cells seen were spermatocytes, located at the periphery of the testis and sometimes connected by cytoplasmic bridges. They are spherical with an anucleolate nucleus, a pair of centrioles, aboundant free ribosomes, sparse rough endoplasmic reticulum, and about five mitochondria. No Golgi complex was seen. The earliest spermatids, though similar to the spermatocytes, are smaller and have only one centriole. Spermatids develop (1) singly, (2) joined by cytoplasmic bridges, or (3) in syncytia. The next stage has a flagellum, a single large mitochondrion with dense material in some intracristal spaces, and a patch of highly condensed chromatin in the nucleus adjacent to the centriole. Subsequently the nucleus and the spermatid elongate. During elongation (1) the mitochondrion remains lateral to the nucleus and the amount of intracristal material enlarges, (2) the central core of condensed chromatin increases, and (3) the remainder of the chromatin becomes organized into dense strands. When elongation is 75% complete, the dense strands of chromatin appear to coalesce, to become homogeneous and denser than the core of chromatin, and the mitochondrion transforms into dense tubules. Finally, the mitochondrion wraps around the nucleus and extends its entire length, ultimately becoming a single tubule spiraled about 45 times around the nucleus. The mature sperm head is 18 μm long, tapering from 0.8 μm posteriorly to a tip about 0.14 μm wide. There is no acrosome. The single (distal) centriole of the sperm gives rise to a 9+2 flagellum with a fuzzy coat and dense material peripheral to each of the nine doublets. Spermiogenesis in T. democratica and C. affinis is similar to that in ascidians, and the sperm share many features with sperm of colonial ascidians in the suborder Didemnidae. The results, therefore, suggest that salps are closely related to ascidians and support the view that colonial ascidians gave rise to salps.