Having cake and eating too: The benefits of an intermediate larval form in a brittle star Amphiodia sp. opaque (Ophiuroidea).

ABSTRACT: Most marine invertebrate larvae either obligately feed or depend on maternally provided reserves during planktonic development. A small number of species have the capacity to do both, in a mode of development known as facultative planktotrophy. We describe facultative feeding in a larva from the Oregon coast, and identify it as being an undescribed species in the genus Amphiodia, which we refer to as Amphiodia sp. opaque. We quantified the effects of food on larval and juvenile quality by culturing larvae, collected as embryos, with and without microalgal food at 15°C. The resulting juveniles were monitored under conditions of starvation. A cohort of juveniles of larvae caught as plankton was subjected to the same starvation treatment for comparison with our laboratory-reared

SUBMITTER: Nakata NN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10352130 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature