Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-495rp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-06T12:02:05.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seasonal Changes in Population Density and Vertical Distribution of prosobranch veligers in offshore Plankton at Plymouth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Vera Fretter  and
D. Shale
Vera Fretter
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Berkshire
D. Shale
Affiliation:
University of Reading, Berkshire
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Vertical and horizontal hauls were taken at approximately fortnightly intervals from April 1969 to April 1970 at L 3 (lat. 40° 17.7′ N, long. 4° 11.2′ W) and L 4 (lat. 50° 15′ N, long. 4° 12.5 W). Thirty-two species of prosobranch veliger were present at L 35 these larvae were not as numerous at L 4 and only 26 species were recorded. The number of species was highest in the summer: the number of veligers was highest in February. After mid October both the number of species and the abundance of veligers decreased rapidly and remained low until early February. Veligers of some species occurred later at L 3 and L 4 than in more inshore waters and these were probably individuals carried beyond tidal influences which would normally lead to settlement on the shore. They included Lacuna vincta, Littorina littorea and L. neritoides.

Veligers of all ages were found at all depths. At their time of greatest abundance veligers of many species occurred maximally at 5 or 10 m, with a variable decrease towards greater depths and a sudden one towards the surface. This distribution later changed giving a proportionally greater number at greater depth. When numbers were low the larvae scattered through the water column with little or no indication of a preferred depth. An examination of the age composition of veligers of rissoids, Natica alderi, Nassarius reticulatus and Philbertia linearis from certain catches showed that the surface accumulation at the time of abundance was composed of a high percentage of young veligers: in an ageing population there was a higher percentage of larvae, especially the older ones, at greater depths, except for Nassarius reticulatus which consistently showed maximal numbers above 10 m until the larvae became scarce.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , August 1973 , pp. 471 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1973

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

Armstrong, F. A. J. & Butler, E. I., 1962. Hydrographic surveys off Plymouth in 1959 and 1960. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 42, 445–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currie, R. I. & Foxton, P., 1956. The Nansen closing method with vertical plankton nets. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 35, 483–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fretter, V., 1972. Metamorphic changes in the velar musculature, head and shell of some proso-branch veligers. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 52, 161–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fretter, V. & Pilkington, M. C., 1970. Prosobranchia. Veliger larvae of Taenioglossa and Stenoglossa. Fiches d'identification du zooplancton, Sheets 129–32, 22 pp.Google Scholar
Graham, A., 1938. On a ciliary process of food-collecting in the gastropod Turritella communis Risso. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London A, 108, 453–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, H. W., Cooper, L. H. N., Lebour, M. V. & Russell, F. S., 1935. Plankton production and its control. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 20, 407–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffreys, J. G., 1867. British Conchology, 4, London: van Voorst.Google Scholar
Kemp, S., Hardy, A. C. & Mackintosh, N. A., 1929. Objects, equipment and methods. Discovery Report, 1, 141–232.Google Scholar
Lebour, M. V., 1933. The eggs and larvae of Turritella communis Lamarck and Aporrhais pespelicani (L.). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 18, 499–506.Google Scholar
Lebour, M. V., 1934. Rissoid larvae as food of young herring. The eggs and larvae of Plymouth Rissoidae. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 19, 523–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebour, M. V., 1937. The eggs and larvae of the British prosobranchs with special reference to those living in the plankton. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 22, 105–66.Google Scholar
Mapstone, G. M., 1970. Feeding activities of veligers of Nassarius reticulatus (L.) and Crepidula fornicata (L.) and the use of artificial foods in maintaining cultures of these larvae. HelgoIdnder wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen, 20, 64–80.Google Scholar
MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, 1957. Plymouth Marine Fauna. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association.Google Scholar
Murayama, S., 1935. On the development of the Japanese abalone, Haliotis gigantea. Journal of the College of Agriculture, Imperial University of Tokyo, 13, 227–33.Google Scholar
Pilkington, M. C. & Fretter, V., 1970. Some factors affecting the growth of prosobranch veligers. Helgöldnder wissenschaftliche Meeresuntersuchungen, 20, 576–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, F. S., 1927. The vertical distribution of marine macroplankton. IV. The apparent importance of light intensity as a controlling factor in the behaviour of certain species in the Plymouth area. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 14,415–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, F. S., 1934. The vertical distribution of marine macroplankton. XII. Some observations on the vertical distribution of Calanus finmarchicus in relation to light intensity. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 19, 569–84.Google Scholar
Schram, T. A., 1970. Studies on the meroplankton in the inner Oslofjord. II. Regional differences and seasonal changes in the specific distribution of larvae. Nytt Magasinfor Zoologi, 18,1–21.Google Scholar
Steele, J. H. & Yentsch, C. S., 1960. The vertical distribution of chlorophyll. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 39, 217–26.Google Scholar
Thiriot-Quiévreux, C., 1968. Variations saisonnières des Mollusques dans le plancton de la région de Banyuls-sur-Mer (zone sud du golfe du Lion). Novembre 1965-Décembre 1967. Vie Milieu, 19, 35–83.Google Scholar
Thorson, G., 1946. Reproduction and larval development of Danish marine bottom invertebrates. Meddelelser fra Kommissionen for Danmarks Fiskeri - og Havundersegelser, Serie Plankton, 4, 1–523.Google Scholar
Winckworth, R., 1932. The British marine Mollusca. Journal of Conchology, 19, 211–52.Google Scholar