Comparative Ultrastructure of Cnidarian Sperm

Marine Cnidarian sperm consist of a head containing the nucleusand several electron dense vesicles. These vesicles aie anteriorto the nucleus in the Hydrozoan and Scyphozoan sperm and adjacentto the posterior legion of the nucleus in the Anthozoan sperm.They are Golgi in origin and do not coalesce. They may be aprimitive acrosome. Mitochondria may number four to five inthe Hydrozoan and Scyphozoan sperm while they form an aggregatein the Anthozoans. Both centrioles persist in the mature spermatozoa.The distal centriole gives rise to the long flagellum and hasassociated with it nine pericentriolar processes.