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Brooding and development of Anasterias minuta (Asteroidea: Forcipulata) in Patagonia, Argentina

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Abstract

Brooding, embryonic and larval development, and the influence of environmental and biological factors in tidepool habitats were studied in the sea star, Anasterias minuta, at various sites along ~220 km of the Patagonian coast. This species has a benthic, lecithotrophic development that includes eight distinct developmental stages. A larval organ, the connection cord, is developed from a small preoral lobe at early stages of development and becomes larger and thinner at advanced stages. Fecundity and average egg size increased with female body size. The regression of log egg number to log sea-star size and weight at different sites had a slope significantly less than 3.0, resulting in negative allometry and indicating that brood capacity was limited in large females. Development was generally synchronous among sites, but varied within each brood at advanced stages, with more developed brooded larvae located at the periphery of the brood mass. Brooding was synchronous among various populations at different years and spatial scales, and extended over a period of 8 months. The highest proportion of brooding females occurred during May and June (austral winter). Juveniles were released mainly during September. The likelihood of finding brooding sea stars decreased with increasing sea water temperature, tidal height, and wave exposure, and increased with increasing body size. Both body size of brooding females and brooding rate were higher in the infralittoral fringe than at midlittoral levels. A revision of the current model of brooding behavior and development among forcipulate sea stars is given.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Silvina Rosales and Maria Belén Reartes for their support during field surveys and Bárbara Kotoucek (UNPSJB) for assistance with German translation. This manuscript was further improved by comments of Howard Feder and two anonymous reviewers.

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  1. Instituto de Desarrollo Costero, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco (UNPSJB), Ciudad Universitaria, Km 4, 9000, Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut, Argentina

    Damián G. Gil & Héctor E. Zaixso

  2. Departamento de Biología General, FCN—UNPSJB, Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut, Argentina

    Damián G. Gil

  3. Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT), Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina

    Graciela Escudero

  4. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Héctor E. Zaixso

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  1. Damián G. Gil
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  2. Graciela Escudero
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  3. Héctor E. Zaixso
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Correspondence to Damián G. Gil.

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Communicated by M. Byrne.

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Gil, D.G., Escudero, G. & Zaixso, H.E. Brooding and development of Anasterias minuta (Asteroidea: Forcipulata) in Patagonia, Argentina. Mar Biol 158, 2589–2602 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-011-1760-1

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