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Department of Biological Sciences and Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0371
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Current address: Department of Marine Sciences, 12-7 Venable Hall, CB#3300, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. E-mail: amoran{at}unc.edu, manahan{at}usc.edu
An understanding of the biochemical and physiological energetics of lecithotrophic development is useful for interpreting patterns of larval development, dispersal potential, and life-history evolution. This study investigated the metabolic rates and use of biochemical reserves in two species of abalone, Haliotis fulgens (the green abalone) and H. sorenseni (the white abalone). Larvae of H. fulgens utilized triacylglycerol as a primary source of endogenous energy reserves for development (
50% depletion from egg to metamorphic competence). Amounts of phospholipid remained constant, and protein dropped by about 30%. After embryogenesis, larvae of H. fulgens had oxygen consumption rates of 81.7 ± 5.9 (SE) pmol larva-1 h-1 at 15 °C through subsequent development. The loss of biochemical reserves fully met the needs of metabolism, as measured by oxygen consumption. Larvae of H. sorenseni were examined during later larval development and were metabolically and biochemically similar to H. fulgens larvae at a comparable stage. Metabolic rates of both species were very similar to previous data for a congener, H. rufescens, suggesting that larval metabolism and energy utilization may be conserved among closely related species that also share similar developmental morphology and feeding modes.
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A. L. Moran and J. S. McAlister Egg Size as a Life History Character of Marine Invertebrates: Is It All It's Cracked Up to Be? Biol. Bull., June 1, 2009; 216(3): 226 - 242. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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