Food limited growth and development of larvae: Experiments with natural sea water

Abstract

Food limitation of growth and development of larvae in coastal waters was tested with larvae of five species of marine invertebrates from the San Juan Islands, WA, U.S.A. The larvae were fed three rations: food in natural sea water, food in natural sea water with cultured algae added, or food in natural sea water with the particle concentration reduced one-fifth by addition of membrane filtered sea water. Larvae of four of the five species grew significantly faster with the enhanced ration than with natural sea water. Larvae of the sand dollar Dendraster excentricus (Eschscholtz) metamorphosed on the 21st day after fertilization with the enhanced ration, on the 27th day with the unaltered ration, and on the 47th day with the reduced ration. The size of the echinus rudiment at metamorphosis of D. excentricus was independent of food concentrations. Since the concentration of chlorophyll a in the natural sea water of this study is common in coastal waters, natural food supplies may commonly limit growth and development of larvae.