Tarun Rajan

Postgraduate Student
-Masters

Contact Details

Academic Qualifications

• BSc in Chemistry, Botany and Zoology
• MSc in Marine Biology

Research

Sex differentiation and sex control in the Australian freshwater crayfish, Cherax species

Many crustaceans are reported to show sexually dimorphic bimodal growth with the males growing faster than the females. In a few cases this is exploited in aquaculture by raising monosex populations which are usually created through manual sexing of sexually differentiated juveniles. Monosex populations can be produced genetically through breeding programmes incorporating sex reversal of individuals and have been successfully been carried out in many finfish.

Sex reversal through hormone treatments to produce functional neofemales will not only  enable production of monosex cultures, but will also help in enhancing understanding of the genetic mechanisms involved in sex determination. The techniques involved in sex reversal to produce monosex progenies have met with reasonable success in several decapod crustacean species with commercial significance.

A proper understanding of the sex determination and its manipulation will help in developing a breeding programme for the Australian freshwater crayfish, the yabby (Cherax destructor, Cherax albidus). The overall objective of this research project is to ascertain timing of sexual differentiation in yabbies and to evaluate the possibility of successful sex reversal using hormones, which will provide information for a successful and sustainable breeding programme in these two crayfish species.

Supervisors

Dr Jian Qin

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