Record of imposex in Cronia konkanensis (Gastropoda, Muricidae) from Indian waters

Abstract

This study for the first time records the phenomenon of imposex in gastropods from Indian waters. The gastropods were collected from three stations located in Goa: Marmugao harbour, Dona Paula and Arambol. Imposex was recorded in a muricid neogastropod species Cronia konkanensis (Melvill, 1893) (Fa: Muricidae) collected from Goa waters located along the west coast of India. The frequency of imposex was found to be in the range of 90–100% in the animals collected from Marmugao harbour while this value reduced to 0–7% at Dona Paula, whereas no imposex could be recorded at Arambol. The vas deferens sequence (VDS) stages ranged from Stages 0 to 4 in which VDS index of Stages 2 and 3 were predominant in the imposex-affected population. An average VDS index of 2.7±1.0 with an average relative penis size (RPL) index of 67.2% was recorded in Marmugao harbour snails. The cubed relative penis size (RPS) index was 11.72% in Stage 2 which increased to 55.81% in Stage 4 female snails collected from Marmugao harbour.