Determining Sex in Posthatchling Loggerhead Sea Turtles Using Multiple Gonadal and Accessory Duct Characteristics (original) (raw)
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LITERATURE CITED COOPER, WE, JR., L. J. VITT, LD VANGILDER AND JW GIBBONS. 1983. Natural nests and brooding behavior of Eumecesfasciatus. Herp. Rev. 14:65-66. COWLES, RB 1944. Parturition in the yucca night lizard. Copeia 1944:98-100. DUVALL, ...
An Immunohistochemical Approach to Identify the Sex of Young Marine Turtles
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Marine turtles exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). During critical periods of embryonic development, the nest's thermal environment directs whether an embryo will develop as a male or female. At warmer sand temperatures, nests tend to produce female-biased sex ratios. The rapid increase of global temperature highlights the need for a clear assessment of its effects on sea turtle sex ratios. However, estimating hatchling sex ratios at rookeries remains imprecise due to the lack of sexual dimorphism in young marine turtles. We rely mainly upon laparoscopic procedures to verify hatchling sex; however, in some species, morphological sex can be ambiguous even at the histological level. Recent studies using immunohistochemical (IHC) techniques identified that embryonic snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) ovaries overexpressed a particular cold-induced RNA-binding protein in comparison to testes. This feature allows the identification of females vs. males. We modif...
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Sea turtles exhibit sexual dimorphism only as adults, hence diagnosing the sex of hatchlings and juveniles requires the employment of different techniques that vary in their level of accuracy and costs. In order to validate the observation of external gross morphology of gonads as a sexing method for juveniles, we compared results obtained in this way with those obtained through histology in 99 loggerhead turtles with curved carapace length (CCL) ranging from 24.0 to 69.0 cm, found in the Adriatic Sea and in the central Mediterranean. Sex was correctly diagnosed in 92.9% of the 99 cases. The highest error rate due to wrong or uncertain sexing was found in turtles with a CCL less than 30.0 cm (33.3%). In turtles with a CCL of 30.0-40.0 cm and 40.0-50.0 cm, the error rates were low (5.3% and 6.7%, respectively), while no errors occurred in larger individuals (CCL greater than 50.0 cm). The results show that gonadal morphology is a reliable sexing method for large juveniles, but for those of less than 30 cm CCL we recommend verification by histology.