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Abstract
Populations of the Indo-Pacific invasive bivalve Spondylus spinosus in the Eastern Mediterranean occur at high densities and occupy vast areas of the rocky habitats along the Israeli coast where they are cemented to hard substratum in an oyster-like fashion. We studied the reproductive features of this bivalve in part of the area where it has invaded and found it to be gonochoric, featuring a reproducing population with a sex ratio of 1:1, annual gonad development and an inferred spawning period coinciding with the seasonal rise in seawater temperature. It is suggested that these reproductive features support high fertilisation rates and fecundity, thus contributing to the maintenance of its populations in the new environment.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and helpful comments on our manuscript. To N. Shalev, M. Weis, and D. Zurel for assistance in the field and laboratory work. We acknowledge R. Tzadok for supplying field facilities in Sdot Yam, and the staff of the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat (IUI) for diving and laboratory facilities, H. Mienis for specimens identification, and N. Paz for editorial assistance. This research was in part supported by the Israel Cohen Chair in Environmental Zoology to YB. Collection of animals complied with a permit issued by the Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority.