User:Gianni Pimentel/sandbox

Reproduction

C. Convexa enters the male sexual phase at 3 weeks of age, when 3-6mm long. In the next or transitional phase, oogenesis was found to occur before spermatogenesis has been completed but the hermaphroditic condition was too transient to permit self fertilization. He found that mated males entered the transitional phase at 6-8mm when several months old and that, at least in aquaria, males ordinarily move from female to female. In males isolated from females, however, the male phase ended after only a month, but a longer transitional period ensued. The female phase is attained at about 6 months at lengths ranging from about 6 mm to a maximum of 13 mm. C. Convexa passes through five recognized sexual phases : immature ; phallus bud ; male ; transitional ; female. Immature animals exhibit only a slight prominence on the right side of the neck, at the site of the developing phallus. Phallus bud snails possess a small and peglike plallus. Males are animals with a muscular, functional phallus. Transitional phase animals, produced from males and possibly also from phallus-buds, are characterized by a degenerate phallus, small in relation to total body length. Females are the largest animals and frequently retain a diminutive remnant of the phallus.