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American Zoologist 1975 15(3):691-715; doi:10.1093/icb/15.3.691
© 1975 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
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Adaptational Significance of the Patterns of Ophiuroid Development

GORDON HENDLER
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 and Biological Sciences Group, University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut 06268

There is only limited information on ophiuroid developmental patterns, larvae being known for only 4% of the 2000 living ophiuroids. Three modes of development are distinguished (planktotrophic, direct, abbreviated) on the basis of egg size and number, larval form and life span, and post-larval size. This generalization is applied to an analysis of the larval form(s) of deep-sea ophiuroids and the ancestral ophiuroid larva. Quantitative information on rate of development and reproductive period, which has been lacking for viviparous ophiuroids, is presented for Axiognathus ( = Amphipholis) squamatus on the basis of original size-frequency data. Reproduction is seasonal in the population studied and development to metamorphosis takes no longer than for planktotrophic species though the brooding period ranges from 3 to 7 months. Additional data indicate post-larvae of planktotrophic species have fewer arm segments than newly-hatched viviparous young, supporting the hypothesis that large size of juveniles is characteristic and selectively advantageous for viviparous ophiuroids.


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