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Irregular recruitment of the echinoid Echinocyamus pusillus and its implications for biological traits analysis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 November 2020
Abstract
Size-frequency analysis of the echinoid Echinocyamus pusillus from six offshore areas in the southern North Sea and eastern English Channel reveal five distinct cohorts, suggesting a lifespan of five years. In all six individual areas one or more year-groups are absent, due to the unsuccessful recruitment of planktonic larvae to the seabed in some years, giving a false impression of a shorter lifespan. A relatively long lifespan and planktotrophic larval development are remarkable for such a small species, which reaches a maximum test length of 7.3 mm in the area, such traits being more typical of large-sized macrobenthic species. The feeding mode is akin to that of many meiobenthic taxa. The architecture of the test confers exceptional strength and resilience to mechanical perturbation.
Keywords
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- Research Article
- Information
- Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 100 , Issue 7 , November 2020 , pp. 1123 - 1127
- Copyright
- Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2020