Meiotic chromosome configurations in triploid and heteroploid mosaic males of Crassostrea gigas and Crassostrea ariakensis

Reversion from triploids to diploids or heteroploid mosaics may make the revertants recover reproductive ability and lose their aquacultural advantages. Meiotic chromosomes in triploids and mosaics of Crassostrea gigas and Crassostrea ariakensis were studied. Pachytene spermatocytes showed incomplete trivalent formation, varying 64–72% in C. gigas and 62–69% in C. ariakensis. At metaphase I, trivalents, bivalents and univalents occurred in various combinations. Trivalents occurred in all spermatocytes, ranged 6–10 per spermatocyte and averaged 8.53–8.97 in C. gigas and 8.49–8.95 in C. ariakensis. Univalents and bivalents appeared in 59.2–72.1% of the spermatocytes in C. gigas, and ranged 0.77–1.39 and 1.01–1.51 per spermatocyte respectively. In C. ariakensis, they occurred in 57.5–81% of the spermatocytes, and ranged 0.9–1.32 and 1.03–1.35 respectively. The most common trivalent was formed by a bivalent with the third chromosome attaching to its side to form ‘long‐tail‐cross’ or ‘t’ or ‘frying‐pan’‐shaped configurations that constituted 65.7% and 59.9% of the trivalents in C. gigas and C. ariakensis respectively. Other kinds of trivalent associations included tandem chains (14.7%, 16.5%), closed circles or triangles (5.3%, 9.8%), convergent ‘T’ or ‘Y’ (5.8%, 7.4%) and unclassified configurations (8.5%, 6.4%). Diploid spermatocytes were not observed from mosaics, although they showed considerable proportions of ‘diploid’ cells in their gills.