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Evolutionary ecology of settlement size in planktotrophic neritimorph gastropods

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Abstract

Body size during larval development is one of the most important attributes of aquatic animals. The optimal size for changing form or habitat may vary according to ecological traits of species, while phylogenetic constraints also play a significant role. The major goal of this study is to reveal the patterns in the settlement size of planktotrophic larvae in an archaic gastropod superorder Neritimorpha. We take advantage of the fact that size at various ontogenetic stages of neritimorphs can be rigorously estimated by measuring features of the adult opercula. This unique feature of neritimorphs has allowed us to generate the largest data set so far on larval settlement sizes within a group of marine invertebrates that recruit into very different post-metamorphic habitats. Eighty-eight species that represent most extant genera from rocky shores, seagrass beds, mangroves, estuaries, streams, submarine caves, deep-sea vents or seeps showed negligible intraspecific variation and considerable interspecific differences in settlement size, particularly between genera or families. Settlement size is determined primarily by phylogenetic constraints, while parallel evolution toward smaller sizes was shown to occur exclusively in four independent clades (two living and two extinct) of amphidromous snails with a marine larval period followed by a limnic adult phase. The smaller settlement size may possibly reduce the risk of being wafted away from the estuaries of their natal streams through less time achieving metamorphic competence, while ability to make occasional long-distance trips is retained by the presence of a sufficiently long delay period. This delay period also seems to obscure the possible correlation between settlement size and geographic distribution range of neritimorph species, both fully marine and amphidromous.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank P. Bouchet, M. Fuji, T. Haga, T. Kase, H. Kawaguchi, H. Kikuchi, S. Kimura, S. Kojima, J. Leqata, J. Letourneux, K. Noda, S. Panha, G. Paulay, Y. Sato, J. Slapcinsky, J. Starmer and A. Warén for their help in the acquisition or loan of specimens and literature. Material from Santo Island, Vanuatu, was collected during the Santo 2006 expedition organized by P. Bouchet and loaned from the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris MNHN. Invaluable comments were provided by N. Mateer and two anonymous reviewers for the improvement of the manuscript. Thanks are also due to T. Kitahashi for assistance with data analysis. Financial support was provided by Grants from Research Institute of Marine Invertebrates Foundation, Tokyo, Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (No. 25-6758) and JSPS KAKENHI (Nos. 23370040 and 24770072).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Ecosystems Dynamics, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8564, Japan

    Hiroaki Fukumori & Yasunori Kano

  2. Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8561, Japan

    Hiroaki Fukumori

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  1. Hiroaki Fukumori
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Correspondence to Yasunori Kano.

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Communicated by U. Sommer.

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Fukumori, H., Kano, Y. Evolutionary ecology of settlement size in planktotrophic neritimorph gastropods. Mar Biol 161, 213–227 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2330-5

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