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Energetic changes throughout early ontogeny of the brooding Antarctic sea star Rhopiella hirsuta (Koehler, 1920)

Energetic changes throughout early ontogeny of the brooding Antarctic sea star Rhopiella hirsuta (Koehler, 1920)
Energetic changes throughout early ontogeny of the brooding Antarctic sea star Rhopiella hirsuta (Koehler, 1920)
An unusually high proportion of Antarctic echinoderms brood their young. Protection, reproductive constraints, low temperatures and limited food supply are all suggested motives for this reproductive pattern. This study looks at the reproductive energetics of the Antarctic asteroid Rhopiella hirsuta, and to establish the dynamics of feeding and elemental composition throughout its early juvenile development. Brooding females were analysed in terms of adult size, brood size, and juvenile size with non-significant trends occurring with depth. Four brooding females were frozen straight after sampling and enabled the study of changes in elemental composition throughout embryo and early juvenile development with regard to their feeding mode. Morphological and elemental analyses indicate aseasonality of reproduction and lecithotrophic early ontogeny in this species. The most advanced juveniles found were significantly different of all earlier stages, with an increase in dry weight to 5.87 (± 1.08) mg suggesting growth, but a high C:N ratio of 8.60 (± 0.59) that would indicate lecithotrophy. However, as the increase in DW was attributed to an increase in carbon, but not to an increase in nitrogen, it was not possible for the food source to be of organic origin.
0722-4060
1-10
Thatje, Sven
f1011fe3-1048-40c0-97c1-e93b796e6533
Steventon, Emma
b003bd0c-cf8e-4a10-98c1-b7add0dc6134
Heilmayer, Olaf
1d88ca9d-6efd-4cfb-a3e7-be342130f836
Thatje, Sven
f1011fe3-1048-40c0-97c1-e93b796e6533
Steventon, Emma
b003bd0c-cf8e-4a10-98c1-b7add0dc6134
Heilmayer, Olaf
1d88ca9d-6efd-4cfb-a3e7-be342130f836

Thatje, Sven, Steventon, Emma and Heilmayer, Olaf (2018) Energetic changes throughout early ontogeny of the brooding Antarctic sea star Rhopiella hirsuta (Koehler, 1920). Polar Biology, 41, 1-10. (doi:10.1007/s00300-018-2285).

Record type: Article

Abstract

An unusually high proportion of Antarctic echinoderms brood their young. Protection, reproductive constraints, low temperatures and limited food supply are all suggested motives for this reproductive pattern. This study looks at the reproductive energetics of the Antarctic asteroid Rhopiella hirsuta, and to establish the dynamics of feeding and elemental composition throughout its early juvenile development. Brooding females were analysed in terms of adult size, brood size, and juvenile size with non-significant trends occurring with depth. Four brooding females were frozen straight after sampling and enabled the study of changes in elemental composition throughout embryo and early juvenile development with regard to their feeding mode. Morphological and elemental analyses indicate aseasonality of reproduction and lecithotrophic early ontogeny in this species. The most advanced juveniles found were significantly different of all earlier stages, with an increase in dry weight to 5.87 (± 1.08) mg suggesting growth, but a high C:N ratio of 8.60 (± 0.59) that would indicate lecithotrophy. However, as the increase in DW was attributed to an increase in carbon, but not to an increase in nitrogen, it was not possible for the food source to be of organic origin.

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Accepted/In Press date: 9 February 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 24 February 2018
Published date: 2018

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 418372
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/418372
ISSN: 0722-4060
PURE UUID: 3c2824b6-c92b-402a-aaaf-38a5410ee618

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Date deposited: 05 Mar 2018 17:30
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 18:39

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Contributors

Author: Sven Thatje
Author: Emma Steventon
Author: Olaf Heilmayer

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