The effect of starvation and decapitation on sexual differentiation in the gonochoristic polychaeteOphryotrocha notoglandulata.

InO. notoglandulata, the most striking effect of either starvation or decapitation was a decrease in the number of gland-bearing segments, regardless of sex. In decapitated females, some oocytes grew to the unusual size of 180 μm in diameter. Both oogenesis and spermatogenesis continued in the absence of the prostomium. These results contrast with those obtained with the protandric hermaphrodite,O. puerilis, in which a cerebral hormone appears to be required for oogonial development.