| Knowledge about the mode of reproduction and the sex determination of the cupped oyster Crassostrea gigas remains limited. As a sequential hermaphroditic species, sex determination takes place several times during its lifetime. As part of this thesis, the sexual phenotypes of the first 6 years of life of oysters were identified in two cohorts. Thus, the sex ratio was biased towards females from the first sexual maturity, as well as for all subsequent years. After six years of sexing, 42%, 32%, 19%, 5%, 1% and 0.1% of oysters showed 0, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4 and 5 sex changes. The frequency of sex changes also decreased with age (34% between years 1-2 to 9% between years 5-6). This thesis work has also sought to determine the influence of sex and sex change on the... |
