Staging Manila and Littleneck clams based on histology requires a good rubric to compare to samples and establish consistant assessment. In order to establish this rubric for our samples, here are collected a number images illustrating different stages.

females

image	interpretation
stage 1
none
stage 2
	high density of eggs, but many appear to be immature
	many eggs, medium density, especially along the edge of folicle walls
stage 3
	high density of eggs throughout
	high denisty of eggs, but some connective tissue and deformed eggs
	high density, but some eggs look like they don’t have a nucleus
	similar to last
stage 4
	low density of eggs, folicle walls breaking down
	lower denisty of eggs, lots of connective tissue between folicles
	low numbers of eggs, empty space and connective tissue, maybe spent?
	low numbers of eggs, lots of connective tissue, atritic eggs in central portion?
stage 5
	very low numbers of eggs
	only a couple eggs

males

image	interpretation
stage 1
none
stage 2
none
stage 3
	high density of sperm with “eye” structure
	similar, but with a bit of break down in center
stage 4
	many folicles with “cloudy” appearance, and broken folicle walls with sperm outside of walls
	some ripe looking folicles, but many degraded walls and sperm outside of the folicles
	even mix of borken and unbroken folicles
	empty “eyes” center right
	similar empty eyes, with sperm visible outside of walls
	all swirl/cloudy
stage 5
	mostly empty folicle
	sperm present, but somewhat light color

hermaphrodites

evidence of hemaphroditic littleneck clams

identified as females

identified as males