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Unprotected larval development in the Antarctic scallop Adamussium colbecki (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pectinidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2004

Paul Arthur Berkman ,
Thomas R. Waller  and
Stephen P. Alexander
Paul Arthur Berkman
Affiliation:
Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1308, USA
Thomas R. Waller
Affiliation:
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560, USA
Stephen P. Alexander
Affiliation:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla, California 92073, USA Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research, Empire State Plaza, P.O. Box 509, Albany, New York 12201-0509
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Abstract

Most Antarctic bivalves are small and protect their young by holding fertilized eggs or larvae in their mantle cavities for varying periods. Nourishment for these early growth stages is provided by yolk reserves rather than by planktotrophy. The anomalously large Antarctic scallop, Adamussium colbecki, has unprotected planktotrophic larvae that are spawned during the austral spring. Successful recruitment of these larvae, in populations which are most abundant in oligotrophic habitats, may be associated with episodic pulses of organic material. Reasons why planktotrophy persists in A. colbecki are suggested by a comparison with another large Antarctic bivalve, Laternula elliptica. The latter has protected lecithotrophic larvae that are released at the beginning of the austral winter. This comparison suggests that unprotected larval development persists in A. colbecki because of unusual anatomical and ecological adaptations among the adults of the Adamussium lineage that have been evolving in the Southern Ocean since the early Oligocene.

Keywords

Adamussium colbeckibenthic invertebrateCenozoiclarvaeLaternula elliptica
Type
Papers–Life Sciences and Oceanography
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 151 - 157
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 1991

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