DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERN AND ADAPTATIONS FOR REPRODUCTION IN NUCELLA CRASSILABRUM AND OTHER MURICACEAN GASTROPODS

¹ Instituto de Zoologia Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile

1. Eggs of Nucella crassilabrum range from 204 to 293 µm in diameter (mean = 240 µm). Only 6.6 to 7.9% are fertile; the remaining are ingested as nurse eggs.

2. Embryos metamorphose before hatching. Pre-hatching time ranges from 55 to 80 days according to seasonal temperature fluctuations.

3. Hatching size varies from 0.82 to 1.3 mm, depending on number of nurse-eggs ingested per embryo (from 3 to 20). Number of fertile embryos per capsule (10 to 122) depends on capsule size.

4. Hatching type and hatching size shown by N. crassilabrum agree with those of other muricaceans living in similar habitat conditions.

5. Pre-hatching time and hatching size data of various muricaceans are analyzed to determine to what extent they influence embryonic mode of nutrition, namely the presence of nurse-eggs or alternatively large and fertile self-sufficient eggs. Provision of nurse-eggs for embryos is of common occurrence among intertidal muricaceans and this mode of nutrition seems to have been favored in such habitats to reduce developmental time. Providing the yolk as nurse-eggs seems also to contribute to a larger hatching size, as suggested by some subtidal muricaceans with such embryo support patterns.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. J. Lloyd and L. A. Gosselin Role of Maternal Provisioning in Controlling Interpopulation Variation in Hatching Size in the Marine Snail Nucella ostrina Biol. Bull., December 1, 2007; 213(3): 316 - 324. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]