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Observations on the life cycle of Abra ovata on an intertidal mud flat in portugal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2019

Martin Sprung
Affiliation:
UCTRA, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, P-8000 Faro, Portugal

Abstract

On an intertidal mud flat in the Ria Formosa (southern Portugal) Abra ovata (Mollusca: Bivalvia) showed effective meiobenthic and macrobenthic dispersal (i.e. of individuals smaller and larger than 1 mm). This was important to compensate for mortality caused by shore crabs during summer. It was observed in the laboratory that A. ovata deposited eggs in capsules on the sediment surface; after 11–15 d at 20°C benthic juveniles of 210–220 (im shell length hatched from these capsules. A pelagic larval stage was missing. Large numbers of specimens of about 1 mm shell length colonized protected buckets between February and June.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1994

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