Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-s9k8s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-24T06:54:18.192Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reproduction in Abra Alba (Wood) and Abra Tenuis (Montagu) (Tellinacea: Scrobiculariidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P. Laskaridou Nott
P. Laskaridou Nott
Affiliation:
Marine Science Laboratories, Menai Bridge, Gwynedd
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Abra alba and Abra tenuis are closely related marine bivalves. They both inhabit similar types of sandy-mud sediments but they prefer different localities. The smaller A. tenuis is found in a few scattered intertidal mudflats, whereas A. alba is more widely distributed and in great abundance in the coastal waters of north-west Europe. The latter can be found at any depth between low-water mark and 80 m (Tebble, 1966; Ansell, 1974) and often forms the dominant species of shallow water benthic communities.

The reproductive cycle of the two species has been studied and compared as a part of a wider ecological investigation. There is minimal literature concerning the reproduction of A. tenuis but A. alba has received a lot of attention, because it forms a major source of food for flatfish. However, most of the earlier investigations are confined to the time that spawning occurs with the evidence derived from either the time of the year that larvae appear in the plankton (Lebour, 1938; Jorgensen, 1946; Fosshagen, 1965; Muus, 1973; Rasmusen, 1973), or the time of the year that juveniles first appear in the bottom samples (Orton, 1924; Ford, 1925; Stephen, 1932). The inadequacy of such indirect methods has been discussed by Seed (1969,1975, 1976). Ansell (1974) derived the reproductive cycle of A. alba from seasonal changes in the biochemical composition. In the present investigation, histological techniques have been used, since they are considered to offer the most reliable information about the reproductive cycle (Seed, 1969, 1975, 1976).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 60 , Issue 2 , May 1980 , pp. 465 - 479
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1980

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

Ansell, A. D., 1974. Seasonal changes in biochemical composition of the bivalve Abra alba from the Clyde Sea area. Marine Biology, 25, 13–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eagle, R. A., 1973. Benthic studies in the south east of Liverpool Bay. Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science, 1, 285–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, E., 1925. On the growth of some lamellibranchs in relation to the food-supply of fishes. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 13, 531–559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fosshagen, A., 1965. Bunnevertebratlarver over et Venus-samfunn i Öresund. Thesis (in Norwegian) University of Bergen, Norway.Google Scholar
Gray, P., 1954. The Microtomist's Formulary and Guide. 794 pp. London: Constable.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartnoll, R. G., 1976. Reproductive strategy in two British species of Alcyonium. In Biology of Benthic Organisms (ed. Keegan, B. F., Ceidigh, P. Ó. and Boaden, P. J. S.), pp. 321–328. Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, R., 1971. Reproduction of Scrobicularia plana (da Costa) (Pelecypoda: Semelidae). Veliger, 14, 77–81.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, C. B., 1946. Lamellibranchia. In Reproduction and Larval Development of Danish Marine Bottom Invertebrates (ser. Plankton), vol. 4 (ed. Thorson, G.), pp. 217–312. Copen-hagen: Meddeleser fra Kommissionen for Danmarks Fiskeri- og Havundersøgelser.Google Scholar
Kändler, R., 1926. Muschellarven aus dem Helgolander plankton. Wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen der Kommission zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung der deutschen Meere (abteilung Helgoland), 16 (5), 8 pp.Google Scholar
Lammens, J. J., 1967. Growth and reproduction in a tidal flat population of Macoma balthica (L.). Netherlands Journal of Sea Research, 3, 315–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebour, M. V., 1938. Notes in the breeding of some lamellibranchs from Plymouth and their larvae. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 23, 119–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loosanoff, V. L., 1942. Seasonal gonadal changes in adult oysters Ostrea virginica of Long Island Sound. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., 82, 195–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menge, B. A., 1975. Brood or broadcast ? The adaptive significance of different reproductive strategies in the two intertidal sea stars Leptasterias hexactis and Piaster ochraceus. Marine Biology, 31, 87–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mileikovsky, S. A. 1971. Types of larval development in marine bottom invertebrates, their distribution and ecological significance: a re-evaluation. Marine Biology, 10, 193–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muus, K., 1973. Settling, growth and mortality of young bivalves in the Øresund. Ophelia, 12, 79–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, J. H., 1924. On early sexual maturity in the molluscs Syndosmya alba and Cardium fasciatum. Nature, London, 114, 244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, J. H., Southward, A. J. & Dodd, J. M., 1956. Studies on the biology of limpets. II. The breeding of Patella vulgata L. in Britain. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 35, 149–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasmussen, E., 1973. Systematics and ecology of the isef jord marine fauna (Denmark). Ophelia, 11, 305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seed, R., 1969. The ecology of Mytilus edulis (L.) (Lamellibranchiata) on exposed rocky shores. I. Breeding and settlement. Oecologia, 3, 277–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seed, R., 1975. Reproduction in Mytilus (Mollusca: Bivalvia) in European waters. Pubblicazioni della Stazione zoologica di Napoli, supplement 39, 317–334.Google Scholar
Seed, R., 1976, Ecology. In Marine Mussels (ed. Bayne, B. L.), pp. 13–65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [IBP Handbook no. 10.]Google Scholar
Seed, R. & Brown, R. A., 1977. A comparison of the reproductive cycles of Modiolus modiolus (L.) Cerastoderma (=Cardium) edule (L.), and Mytilus edulis (L.) in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. Oecologia, 30, 173–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steedman, H. F., 1947. Ester wax: a new embedding medium. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 88, 123–133.Google Scholar
Stephen, A. C., 1932. Notes on the biology of some lamellibranchs in the Clyde area. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 18, 51–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tebble, N., 1966. British Bivalve Sea-shells. 212 pp. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History).Google Scholar
Thorson, G., 1946. Reproductive and larval development of Danish marine bottom invertebrates, with special reference to planktonic larvae in the Sound (Öresund). In Reproduction and Larval Development of Danish Marine Bottom Invertebrates (ser. Plankton), vol. 4 (ed. Thorson, G.), pp. 401–523. Copenhagen: Meddeleser fra Kommissionen for Danmarks Fiskeriog Havundersegelser.Google Scholar
Thorson, G., 1950. Reproductive and larval ecology of marine bottom invertebrates. Biological Reviews, 25, 1–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zar, J. H., 1974. Biostatistical Analysis. 620 pp. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall Inc.Google Scholar