Morphometric and structural analysis of Florida manateespermatozoa

Sperm characteristics, such as sperm morphology and sperm morphometry areimportant in assessing sperm quality. This is especially important for the man-agement and conservation of endangered and exotic species, like the Floridamanatee, where information of this nature is extremely limited. In this study,we fill this knowledge gap to better understand the reproductive physiology ofFlorida manatees by conducting the first extensive analysis of sperm mor-phometry and ultrastructure. Sperm were retrieved from the vas deferens ofnine recently deceased Florida manatees. Computer-aided sperm morphologyanalysis (CASMA) was used for morphometric analysis and laser-scanningconfocal microscopy and electron microscopy were used for structural andultrastructural characterization