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The Biology of Purpura Lapillus. part III. Life History and Relation to Environmental Factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Hilary B. Moore
Hilary B. Moore
Affiliation:
Bermuda Biological Station, Bermuda
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Extract

The eggs of Purpura are laid in vase-shaped capsules, attached in clusters to the rocks. Spawning takes place throughout the year, but chiefly in the winter and spring (Pelseneer, 1935; Moore, 1938; Colton, 1916). It is said to take more than an hour to produce one capsule, and 24 hr to produce ten (Pelseneer, 1935, p. 508), and the number of capsules laid at one time is said to average fifteen, and to range from six to thirty-one (Pelseneer, 1935, p. 490). Cooke (1895, p. 124) states that a single Purpura produces as many as 245 capsules. The capsules contain a large number of yolky eggs, the estimates of the numbers of these per capsule varying from three hundred to a thousand (Colton, 1916; Pelseneer, 1935, p. 527). Most of these ova are unfertilized and serve as food for the few embryos which develop: five to forty according to Pelseneer (1935, p. 481), ten to twelve according to Colton (1916). The time of development is about 4 months (Pelseneer 1935, p. 527). The capsules are laid in crevices in the rocks, or sometimes under stones, but at the same tidal level as that inhabited by the adults. The young, when hatched, are generally supposed to retreat into cracks in the rocks, presumably at the same level, and Colton states that they feed there on small Mytilus.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , November 1938 , pp. 67 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1938

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