ABSTRACT
Sex determination and sex differentiation are highly diverse processes that have evolved independently a number of times (Hodgkin, 1990). Unlike in shes, sex differentiation in crustaceans is not a labile and protracted process. Further, it is a little different and more complicated in crustaceans than in shes. Unlike vertebrates, endocrine and gametogenic functions are clearly separated into distinct organs, the Androgenic Gland (AG) and the testes, respectively (Sagi et al., 1997). All hermaphroditic shes are potential hermaphrodites but are functional bisexuals at a given point of time (Pandian, 2013, p 213). However, there are functional and selffertilizing hermaphrodites in crustaceans. The process of sex differentiation is disrupted by pollutants in both crustaceans and shes. Unlike in shes, it is also disrupted by parasites and food. In gonochoric and protogynic shes, administration of androgen, especially 17β-methyltestosterone (MT) successfully induces masculinization. However, crustaceans are not amenable to hormonal sex reversal. Vogt (2007), the only publication available on this aspect, indicates that the relatively more Šexible craysh Procambarus alleni exposed to MT from egg to adult stage was not masculanized. On the other hand, administration of Juvenile Hormone (JH) or its analog induced parthenogenic production of males and females in daphnids. JH has so far not been used to induce sex change or alter larval stage in shes.
