Full Answer
What is larval settlement and metamorphosis?
Norman J. Blake, in Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science, 2016 Larval settlement and metamorphosis represent a period of high mortality since it is a period of their life history in which larvae undergo behavioural changes associated with their search for an appropriate substrate upon which to settle.
Do larvae accumulate lipids before metamorphosis in sea scallops?
In a study of metamorphic success in sea scallops, larvae were found to accumulate lipids and triacylglycerols (TAG) prior to metamorphosis which were directly proportional to the success of the metamorphosis ( Pernet et al., 2006 ).
How does water temperature affect larval settlement?
The percentage of larval settlement is affected by the water temperature at the localities where the parents occur. The highest percentage of settlement is found in juveniles from the southern Pacific coast at a water temperature of 18°C and at 12°C for those from the Sea of Japan (Tajima et al., 1991 ).
What is the average size of larval settlement and juvenile recruitment?
Both larval settlement (0.5 to 5.0 mm) and juvenile recruitment (5 to 50 mm) are highly variable in space and time. The numbers of juveniles recruiting to populations varies between years, and mortality rates on juveniles are high (Pearse and Hines 1987; Lawrence, 2001 ).
Affiliations
1 Instituto de Acuicultura and Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Edificio CIBUS, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, SPAIN.
Grant support
This work was supported by: EU FP7-Research Infrastructure Initiative Assemble (Association of European marine biological laboratories); EU FP7 Project Byefouling (grant agreement no 612717); Xunta de Galicia, Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (grant number ED431D 2017/22).
Abstract
Biofilms is an important mediator of larval settlement and metamorphosis for the pearl oyster Pinctada fucata, which is an important aquaculture species in South China. However, the role of biofilms in larval settlement and metamorphosis in this species remains unclear.
1. Introduction
The pearl oyster, Pinctada fucata, is an important aquaculture species in South China ( He et al., 2005, He et al., 2008, Wu et al., 2003 ). It is similar to many benthic marine invertebrates having a planktonic larval stage preceding a benthic adult phase ( Jin, 1992, Yu et al., 2008 ).
2. Materials and methods
Adult P. fucata were collected from the pearl oyster farm at the Daya Bay Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangdong, PR China. Larvae were obtained from adults and reared to be competent according to the methods described by Yu et al. (2008).
4. Discussion
Results of our study show that biofilms, which are ubiquitous in the marine environment, play an important role in the induction of larval settlement and metamorphosis of P. fucata.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for comments on this manuscript and Dr. Maoxian He for his technical support. This work was supported by the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams (No. KZCX2-YW-T001; KZCX2-YW-213) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40806057 ).