Meeting Abstract

62.4  Wednesday, Jan. 6  Reproductive and larval ecology of the tropical Vermetid gastropod, Dendropoma maximum PHILLIPS, N.E.*; SHIMA, J.S.; OSENBERG, C.W.; Victoria Univ. of Wellington, New Zealand; Victoria Univ. of Wellington, New Zealand; Univ. of Florida, Gainesville nicole.phillips@vuw.ac.nz

Sessile gastropods of the family Vermetidae are common inhabitants of temperate and tropical reefs. Dendropoma maximum is the largest vermetid species and is common across its Indo-Pacific range, yet little is known of its basic biology. Here we report studies from Moorea, French Polynesia on reproduction in D. maximum, and results from experiments examining the interaction between larval D. maximum and coral. From adults collected in the field we found that the sex ratio became increasingly dominated by females as body size increased, suggesting protandric hermaphroditism. Probability of brooding, number and size of brooded egg capsules, and the number of embryos per capsule were all positively related to female size. Reproduction may occur year round, and egg capsules of different developmental stages are brooded simultaneously. Females released large veliger larvae that lived without food for up to 10 days, but fed when offered cultured phytoplankton on the final day. This is the first direct observation of feeding by larvae in this genus. Larvae were repeatedly offered live and dead coral rubble but did not settle in any of our trials. Larvae that came into contact with some species of coral polyps, even for a short period, were killed: 47% of larvae that had been in contact with Porites lobata, and 18% that contacted Pocillopora sp., were unable to recover. Taken together, our work sheds light on reproduction and life history strategies of D. maximum with implications for dispersal, recruitment and population dynamics, as well as coral reef ecology.