Early development of the limpet Siphonaria lessonii Blainville, 1827 in populations affected by different physical stressors

ABSTRACT

The limpet Siphonaria lessonii is very common along Atlantic Patagonian intertidal rocky shores. We studied the early intracapsular embryonic development of this limpet in detail in two populations in north Patagonia, with different environmental conditions (i.e. wave exposure, wind, temperature). Early development in both populations was achieved at controlled and equal conditions (13°C). The spawn consisted of a series of enchained egg capsules embedded in a jelly mass. The development from egg to hatching veliger took 9–11 days in embryos from both populations. The developmental process at both sites was identical, differing only in the embryos' sizes at each stage. Larger adult individuals producing larger embryos were registered at the sheltered site. The differences in sizes of adult and embryos of S. lessonii could be attributed to distinct environmental stressful conditions between sites.

SUBJECT EDITOR:

• Rachel Collin

KEYWORDS:

• Intracapsular development
• Siphonariidae
• rocky shores
• egg masses
• spawn
• Patagonia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by Projects PICT 2709, PICT 1476, PICT 0174, PICT 2504 and PIP 067, Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica. The authors are members of CONICET. All research work including sampling and laboratory research comply with current Argentine laws. The authors wish to thank the reviewers and editors for having improved this article. Jaime Groizard from Aluar S.A. kindly helped with SEM pictures and Lorena Arribas helped with the statistical analysis. Photographs of sampling sites were kindly given by Martin Brogger and Pitu Mendez. This is publication #94 of the Laboratorio de Reproducción y Biología Integrativa de Invertebrados Marinos (LARBIM).