[Annelida] oocytes of lugworms

[Stefan Goerlitz]

  Hello everybody,
My name is Stefan and I am a Phd student at the Portobello Marine  
Laboratory, working on the lugworm Abarenicola affinis in sand- and  
mudflat of the Otago Peninsula (Dunedin, Otago, South New Zealand).
Over the past two years I have collected a large number of lugworms.  
The worms were fixed (Formalin 4%) and subsequently preserved (Ethanol  
70 %). Recently I started to look at fecundity and egg-maturation in  
females. I extracted a drop of coelomic fluid from a few specimen for  
microscopic examination. The attached photographs show the only  
consistent structure I found and believed to be oocytes; roundish and  
with a distinctive ring. Since I have not worked in the field of  
reproduction biology at all, I would like to know if anyone who has  
experience with this kind of work could confirm or not confirm these  
structures being oocytes? Furthermore I was wondering if sperm of  
males can be observed with the same method and how they would look like.
Thanks in advance,
Stefan



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