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Feeding behaviour in larvae of the opisthobranchPhiline aperta

I. Growth and functional response at different developmental stages

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Abstract

In autumn 1989 several adultPhiline aperta (L.) were collected in the Øresund near Helsingør. Their larvae were reared from hatching to metamorphosis and maximum growth recorded in terms of shell length. The growth pattern was characterised by three phases: (1) an initial high growth phase based in part on reserves from the egg, with a low rate of algal ingestion; (2) a fast growing phase based on planktotrophy; (3) a settling phase (pediveliger) immediately prior to metamorphosis, with a low growth rate. Larvae of different ages were fed increasing concentrations of the flagellateIsochrysis cf.galbana to study functional relationships of grazing vs food concentration. Maximum ingestion (estimated from the functional relationship experiments) could only meet the costs for growth (estimated from literature growth efficiencies) of the largest larvae. Maximum clearance was allometrically related to larval size. Velar circumference increased isometrically with body size during development, and the length of the compound prototrochal and mesotrochal cilia increased 5 and 2.5 times, respectively. Relations between grazing and velar morphology indicate that both the mesotroch and the prototroch determine the rate of grazing.

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  1. B. Hansen

    Present address: Institute I, Life Sciences and Chemistry, Roskilde University, P.O. Box 260, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark

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  1. Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Strandpromenaden 5, DK-3000, Helsingør, Denmark

    B. Hansen & K. W. Ockelmann

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Communicated by T. Fenchel, Helsingør

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Hansen, B., Ockelmann, K.W. Feeding behaviour in larvae of the opisthobranchPhiline aperta . Mar. Biol. 111, 255–261 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01319707

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