Meeting Abstract

P2.58  Sunday, Jan. 5 15:30  Genetic identification of bivalve larvae from deep-sea seep communities HIEBERT, T.C.*; BURGESS, A.K.; LABELLA, A; YOUNG, C.M.; MASLAKOVA, S.A.; Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Univ. of Oregon; Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Univ. of Oregon; Duke University; Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Univ. of Oregon; Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, Univ. of Oregon terrah@uoregon.edu

Most marine invertebrates exhibit a biphasic life history with planktonic larvae and benthic adults. Larvae typically have greater dispersal potential than adults, and thus connect populations both in time and in space. Genetic data on adults suggest contemporary gene flow among small and isolated populations of deep-sea cold-seep bivalves within the Intra-American Sea (IAS) that could be facilitated by larval dispersal. Some seep bivalves have long-lived planktotrophic larvae and one species has been found throughout the water column in the Gulf of Mexico. However, information on larval distribution of seep species in the water column is generally scarce. Here, we identify larvae of several species of deep-sea bivalves collected from the water column at various depths near seep systems within the IAS using DNA sequences of the 5’ region of the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome Oxidase I. Larvae identified to species level include those of the deep-sea seep mussel Bathymodiolus mauritanicus, an amphi-Atlantic species found in West Africa, Gulf of Cadiz and Barbados Accretionary Prism (BAP). Larvae of this species were found in the water column as deep as 1250 m and as shallow as 200 m near BAP, suggesting that they may disperse with deep or surface currents. Additionally we identified larvae of two vesicomyid clams – Laubiericoncha myriamae, and an undescribed species found at BAP, both collected in plankton samples taken between 1250 m and 900 m near BAP.