Meeting Abstract

P1.33  Friday, Jan. 4  Biogeographic patterns in the reproductive timing of broadcast-spawners COCKETT, P.M.*; BIRD, C.E.; Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi; Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi pcockett@islander.tamucc.edu

There is strong selective pressure for synchronization of reproductive timing in broadcast-spawners, which reproduce by releasing their gametes into the water column. When studied in detail, however, there is typically variation in reproductive timing within populations. Reproductive timing can influence population structure, speciation, and is a critical parameter in fisheries management. Here, we correlate the reproductive timing of the three endemic broadcast-spawning Hawaiian limpets (Cellana exarata, C. sandwicensis, and C. talcosa) at several locations with known patterns of genetic partitioning and the evolutionary history of these taxa. The abundance of Hawaiian limpets, a culturally important delicacy known as ‘opihi, has plummeted 10 fold over the last century due to over-fishing and there has been a recent movement to update the management strategies for this species. Here, we add to the previously published information on the spawning times of Hawaiian Cellana (two species at one site), and assess the efficacy of fishery closures designed to protect spawning. Resulting data suggest that different sites exhibit different patterns of spawning timing within and among species that do not perfectly correlate with mtDNA population genetic structure. However, the species with the most ancestral characters and lowest amount of population structure, C. exarata, exhibits the greatest degree of synchronicity in reproductive timing. The lack of synchronization among species on the scale of months suggests that a simple pattern of closed and open seasons will not be effective in protecting spawning for all species.