Fecundity and Reproductive Effort in the Blue Mussel (Mytilus edulis), the Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis), and the Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio) from Populations in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland
- 1 August 1979
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Canadian Science Publishing in Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada
- Vol. 36 (8), 955-964
- https://doi.org/10.1139/f79-133
Abstract
Fecundity varies from year to year in blue mussels (M. edulis) from Petpeswick Inlet, Nova Scotia and from Bellevue, Newfoundland. This observation is consistent with recent theory that suggests that reproductive effort (that proportion of the energy budget allocated to reproduction) should be variable in animals such as marine bivalves that are unable to predict the quality of the environment for their juveniles. Fecundity estimates in the sea urchin (S. droebachiensis) and the snow crab (C. opilio) are presented. Reproductive effort increases with advancing age in the 3 spp. of invertebrates studied; in the mussel the transition from growth to reproduction is more gradual than it is in the sea urchin or the female snow crab, which exhibit early growth and delayed reproduction. The degree to which the growth and reproductive phases are separated in each species may be determined in part by the predictability of the food supply. The allocation of resources primarily to growth rather than to reproduction in young (small) individuals may be seen as a response to selective pressure resulting from higher mortality and from competition.This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Size‐Limited Predation: An Observational and Experimental Approach with the Mytilus‐Pisaster InteractionEcology, 1976
- Growth Per Molt and Limb Regeneration in the Spider Crab, Chionoecetes opilioJournal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 1976
- Species Diversity Gradients: Synthesis of the Roles of Predation, Competition, and Temporal HeterogeneityThe American Naturalist, 1976
- ASPECTS OF REPRODUCTION IN BIVALVE MOLLUSCSPublished by Elsevier ,1976