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Growth rates are related to production efficiencies in juveniles of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2013

L.E. Heflin ,
V.K. Gibbs ,
W.T. Jones ,
R. Makowsky ,
A.L. Lawrence  and
S.A. Watts
L.E. Heflin*
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA
V.K. Gibbs
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA
W.T. Jones
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA
R. Makowsky
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biostatistics, Birmingham, AL, USA
A.L. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Texas A&M Mariculture Research Laboratory, Port Aransas, TX, USA
S.A. Watts
Affiliation:
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: L.E. Heflin, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Biology, Birmingham, AL, USA email: leheflin@uab.edu.
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Abstract

Growth rates of newly-metamorphosed urchins from a single spawning event (three males and three females) were highly variable, despite being held en masse under identical environmental and nutritional conditions. As individuals reached ~5 mm diameter (0.07–0.10 g wet weight), they were placed in growth trials (23 dietary treatments containing various nutrient profiles). Elapsed time from the first individual entering the growth trials to the last individual entering was 121 days (N = 170 individuals). During the five-week growth trials, urchins were held individually and proffered a limiting ration to evaluate growth rate and production efficiency. Growth rates among individuals within each dietary treatment remained highly variable. Across all dietary treatments, individuals with an initially high growth rate (entering the study first) continued to grow at a faster rate than those with an initially low growth rate (entering the study at a later date), regardless of feed intake. Wet weight gain (ranging from 0.13–3.19 g, P <0.0001, R2 = 0.5801) and dry matter production efficiency (ranging from 25.2–180.5%, P = 0.0003, R2 = 0.6162) were negatively correlated with stocking date, regardless of dietary treatment. Although canalization of growth rate during en masse early post-metamorphic growth is possible, we hypothesize that intrinsic differences in growth rates are, in part, the result of differences (possibly genetic) in production efficiencies of individual Lytechinus variegatus. That is, some sea urchins are more efficient in converting feed to biomass. We further hypothesize that this variation may have evolved as an adaptive response to selective pressure related to food availability.

Keywords

growth rateproduction efficiencysea urchinLytechinus variegatus
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 93 , Issue 6 , September 2013 , pp. 1673 - 1683
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2013 

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