Ultrastructural study of the spermatozoon in a tropical lucinid bivalve:Codakia orbicularisL.

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Abstract
In Codakia orbicularis, the spermatozoon has a short cylindrical acrosome separated from a long, curved, tapered nucleus by a large subacrosomal region. The cinetic apparatus is made of a complex system of fibrillar processes linking the distal centriolar satellite bodies to a microtubule-like ring which, in turn, is anchored to the plasma membrane through a fibrillar network issued from the secondary satellites at the basal part of the middle-piece where it is encased in a circular flange. The tail contains a normal axonemal pattern; moreover, a large undulating membrane, oriented in the same plane as the central microtubules, is differentiated along the flagellum. The elongated nucleus together with the differentiation of the middle piece and tail represent a significant modification of the primitive type of spermatozoon.