著者

YAMAMORI LUNA KATO MAKOTO

出版者

日本プランクトン学会、日本ベントス学会

雑誌

Plankton and Benthos Research (ISSN:18808247)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.14, no.2, pp.131-134, 2019

被引用文献数

2

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<p>The rock-boring sea urchin, <i>Echinostrephus molaris</i>, excavates soft rocks, and the pits are later used by non-boring sea urchins such as <i>Echinometra mathaei</i> and <i>Anthocidaris crassispina</i>. The pits used by these non-boring sea urchins are also characteristically inhabited by a limpet-like algivorous trochid snail, <i>Broderipia iridescens</i> (Gastropoda, Trochidae). To determine how this unique symbiotic association is maintained, we observed reproduction and larval development of the snail, and performed assays to detect what induced settlement in the snail larvae. As candidates of settlement inducers, a habitat biofilm plate, the host and the non-host sea urchins, and conspecific snails were kept in separate glass bowls, and newly hatched <i>B. iridescens</i> veliger larvae were introduced to each bowl. Sixty to 80% of larvae settled in bowls that contained the non-boring host sea urchins and conspecific snails. On the other hand, only approximately 8% of the larvae settled in bowls containing the boring non-host sea urchins. This is the first report demonstrating that larval settlement of an algivore is induced not by the habitat biofilms, but by the symbiotic hosts.</p>