Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-01T11:09:25.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diet, reproduction, settlement and growth of Palio dubia (Nudibranchia: Polyceridae) in the north-west Atlantic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2008

Jean-François Hamel ,
Philip Sargent  and
Annie Mercier
Jean-François Hamel
Affiliation:
Society for the Exploration and Valuing of the Environment (SEVE), 21 Phils Hill Road, Portugal Cove-St Philips (Newfoundland and Labrador), A1M 2B7Canada
Philip Sargent
Affiliation:
Society for the Exploration and Valuing of the Environment (SEVE), 21 Phils Hill Road, Portugal Cove-St Philips (Newfoundland and Labrador), A1M 2B7Canada
Annie Mercier*
Affiliation:
Ocean Sciences Centre, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John's (Newfoundland and Labrador), A1C 5S7Canada
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Annie Mercier Ocean Sciences CentreMemorial University of NewfoundlandSt John's (Newfoundland and Labrador)A1C 5S7, Canada email: amercier@mun.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Egg masses, juveniles and adults of the gastropod Palio dubia were found in shallow rocky habitats of eastern Canada dominated by the bryozoan Eucratea loricata. Multiple-choice experiments and direct field observations revealed that P. dubia prefers to feed on E. loricata. Courtship, copulation and egg-laying as well as hatching of P. dubia were closely related to the lunar cycle. Reproduction was preceded by increased pairing and aggregative behaviour. The duration of embryonic development in the capsules was 10–15 d. After hatching, most veligers were retained within the bryozoan branches during their pelagic phase (1–3 d). In multiple-choice experiments, settlement occurred preferentially on the bryozoan E. loricata. In the absence of the preferred substratum, the larvae continued to swim and died after a period that never exceeded 8 d. Juveniles remained associated with the bryozoans on which they settled and reached the adult size in ~3 months.

Keywords

nudibranchfeedingspawninglunar cycle
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 88 , Issue 2 , March 2008 , pp. 365 - 374
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aiken, R.B. (2003) Some aspects of the life history of an intertidal population of the nudibranch Dendronotus frondosus (Ascanius, 1774) (Opisthobranchia: Dendronotoidea) in the Bay of Fundy. Veliger 46, 169–175.Google Scholar
Allmon, R.A. and Sebens, K.P. (1988) Feeding biology and ecological impact of an introduced nudibranch Tritonia plebeia (New England, USA). Marine Biology 99, 375–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Audesirk, T.E. (1979) A field study of growth and reproduction in Aplysia californica. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 157, 407–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beeman, R.D. (1977) Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia. In Giese, A.C. and Pearse, J.S. (eds) Reproduction of marine invertebrates, vol. IV, Molluscs: gastropods and cephalopods. New York: Academic Press, pp. 115–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bleakney, J.S. and Saunders, C.L. (1978) Life history observations on the nudibranch mollusc Onchidoris bilamellata in the intertidal zone of Nova Scotia. Canadian Field-Naturalist 92, 82–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bone, E.K. and Keough, M.J. (2005) Responses to damage in an arborescent bryozoan: effects of injury location. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 324, 127–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, J.L. (1975) The evolution of behavior. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. Inc.Google Scholar
Buckland-Nicks, J., Gibson, G. and Koss, R. (2002) Phylum Mollusca: Gastropoda. In Young, C.M. et al. (eds) Atlas of marine invertebrate larvae. New York: Academic Press, pp. 261–265.Google Scholar
Burke, R.D. (1986) Pheromones and the gregarious settlement of marine invertebrate larvae. Bulletin of Marine Science 39, 323–331.Google Scholar
Carroll, D.J. and Kempf, S.C. (1990) Laboratory culture of the aeolid nudibranch Berghia verrucicornis (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia): some aspects of its development and life history. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 179, 243–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chia, F.S. and Koss, R. (1978) Development and metamorphosis of the planktotrophic larvae of Rostanga pulchra (Mollusca: Nudibranchia). Marine Biology 46, 109–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, H. (1977) Feeding and reproduction in Precuthona peachi (Mollusca: Nudibranchia). Ophelia 16, 131–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, K.B. (1975) Nudibranch life cycles in the Northwest Atlantic and their relationship to the ecology of fouling communities. Helgoländer Wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen 27, 28–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eyster, L. (1979) Reproduction and developmental variability in the opisthobranch Tenellia pallida. Marine Biology 51, 133–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franz, D.R. (1970) Zoogeography of Northwest Atlantic opisthobranch molluscs. Marine Biology 7, 171–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, G.D. and Chia, F.-S. (1989) Developmental variability (pelagic and benthic) in Haminoea callidegenita (Opisthobranchia: Cephalaspidea) is influenced by egg mass jelly. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 176, 103–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goddard, J.H.R. (2004) Developmental mode in benthic opisthobranch molluscs from the northeast Pacific Ocean: feeding in a sea of plenty. Canadian Journal of Zoology 82, 1954–1968.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gohar, H.A.F. and Soliman, G.N. (1963) The biology and development of Hexabranchus sanguineus (Ruppell and Leuckart) (Gastropoda, Nudibranchia). Publications of the Marine Biological Station, al-Ghardaqa, Red Sea 12, 219–247.Google Scholar
Gurin, S. and Carr, W.E. (1971) Chemoreception in Nassarius obsoletus: ‘the role of specific stimulatory proteins’. Science 174, 293–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hadfield, M.G. (1978) Metamorphosis in marine molluscan larvae: an analysis of stimulus and response. In Chia, F.-S. and Mary, E.R. (eds) Settlement and metamorphosis of marine invertebrate larvae. New York: Elsevier/North-Holland, Inc, pp. 165–175.Google Scholar
Hadfield, M.G. (1984) Settlement requirements of molluscan larvae: new data on chemical and genetic roles. Aquaculture 39, 283–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadfield, M.G. and Switzer-Dunlap, M. (1984) Opisthobranchs. In Tompa, A.S. et al. (eds) The Mollusca vol. 7. Orlando, Florida: Academic Press, pp. 209–350.Google Scholar
Hamel, J.-F. and Mercier, A. (2006) Factors regulating the breeding and foraging activity of a tropical opisthobranch. Hydrobiologia 571, 225–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrigan, J.F. and Alkon, D.L. (1978) Larval rearing, metamorphosis, growth and reproduction of the eolid nudibranch Hermissenda crassicornis (Eschscholtz, 1831) (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia). Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 154, 430–439.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heslinga, G.A. (1981) Larval development, settlement and metamorphosis of the tropical gastropod Trochus niloticus. Malacologia 20, 349–357.Google Scholar
Hyman, L.H. (1967) The invertebrates, Vol. 6, Mollusca 1. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Jensen, K.R. (2005) Distribution and zoogeographic affinities of the nudibranch fauna (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia, Nudibranchia) of the Faroe Islands. Frodskapparit Biofar Proceedings 2005, 109–124.Google Scholar
Karlsson, A. (2001) Reproduction in the hermaphrodite Aeolidiella glauca. PhD thesis, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.Google Scholar
Karlsson, A. and Haase, M. (2002) The enigmatic mating behaviour and reproduction of a simultaneous hermaphrodite, the nudibranch Aeolidiella glauca (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia). Canadian Journal of Zoology 80, 260–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, J.L. and Lukowiak, K. (1985) Courtship, copulation and sperm trading in the sea slug Navanax inermis (Opisthobranchia: Cephalaspidea). Canadian Journal of Zoology 63, 2719–2729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinez-Pita, I., Sanchez-Espana, A.I. and Garcia, F.J. (2006) Some aspects of the reproductive biology of two Atlantic species of Polycera (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK 86, 391–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, K.B. (1971) Distribution and zoogeography of fourteen species of nudibranchs of northern New England and Nova Scotia. Veliger 14, 137–152.Google Scholar
Mileikovsky, S.A. (1970) Seasonal and daily dynamics in pelagic larvae of marine shelf bottom invertebrates in nearshore waters of Kandalaksha Bay (White Sea). Marine Biology 5, 180–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, M.J. (1971) The biology of a carnivorous mollusc: anatomical, behavioral and electrophysiological observations on Navanax inermis. PhD thesis, University of California, Berkeley, California.Google Scholar
Rivest, B.R. (1984) Copulation by hypodermic injection in the nudibranchs Palio zosterae and P. dubia (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia). Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 167, 543–554.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudman, W.B. and Willan, R.C. (1998) Opisthobranchia Introduction. In Breesley, P.L. et al. (eds.) Mollusca: the southern synthesis. Fauna of Australia vol. 5, part B. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, pp. 915–942.Google Scholar
Rutowski, R.L. (1983) Mating and egg mass production in the aeolid nudibranch Hermissenda crassicornis (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia). Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 165, 276–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaefer, K. (1996) Review of data on cephalaspid reproduction, with special reference to the genus Haminaea (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia). Ophelia 45, 17–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheltema, R.S. (1961) Metamorphosis of the veliger larvae of Nassarius obsoletus (Gastropoda) in response to bottom sediment. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 120, 92–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmekel, L. (1971) Histologie und feinstruktur der genitalorgane von Nudibranchiern (Gastropoda, Euthyneura). Zoomorphology 69, 115–183.Google Scholar
Sebens, K.P. (1983) The larval and juvenile ecology of the temperate octocoral Alcyonium siderium. II Fecundity, survival and juvenile growth. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 72, 263–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sebens, K.P. (1986) Spatial relationship among encrusting marine organisms in the New England subtidal zone. Ecological Monographs 56, 73–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swennen, C. (1959) The Netherlands coastal waters as an environment for Nudibranchia. Basteria 23, 56–62.Google Scholar
Thompson, T.E. (1958) The natural history, embryology, larval biology and post-larval development of Adalaria proxima (Alder and Hancock) (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B Biological Sciences 242, 1–58.Google Scholar
Thompson, T.E. (1964) Grazing and the life cycles of British nudibranchs. British Ecological Society Symposium 4, 275–297.Google Scholar
Thompson, T.E. and Brown, G.H. (1984) Biology of opisthobranch molluscs. Vol. II. London: The Ray Society.Google Scholar
Todd, C.D. (1979) The population ecology of Onchidoris bilamellata (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 41, 213–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, C.D. (1981) The ecology of nudibranch molluscs. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 19, 141–234.Google Scholar
Todd, C.D. (1983) Reproductive and trophic ecology of nudibranch molluscs. In Russell-Hunter, W.D. (ed.) The Mollusca Vol. 6, Ecology. Orlando, Florida: Academic Press, pp. 225–259Google Scholar
Todd, C.D. and Havenhand, J.N. (1989) Nudibranch–bryozoan associations: the quantification of ingestion and some observations on partial predation among doridoidea. Journal of Molluscan Studies 55, 245–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watt, J.L. and Aiken, R.B. (2003) Effect of temperature on development time in egg masses of the intertidal nudibranch, Dendronotus frondosus (Ascanius 1774) (Opisthobranchia, Dendronotacea). Northeastern Naturalist 10, 17–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widdows, J. (1991) Physiological ecology of mussel larvae. Aquaculture 94, 147–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar