In situ spawning in a marine broadcast spawner, the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas: Timing and environmental triggers

• Published in: Limnology and Oceanography
• Main Authors: Bernard, I., Massabuau, J.-C., Ciret, P., Sow, Moustapha, Sottolichio, A., Pouvreau, Stéphane, Tran, D.
• Other Authors: Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Environnement Marin (LEMAR) (LEMAR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques (EPOC), Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers (OASU), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: TEMPERATURE; ACL; OSTREA VIRGINICA; FERTILIZATION STRATEGIES; SPERM LIMITATION; PINCTADA-MARGARITIFERA; SEXUAL CONFLICT; GAMETE RELEASE; SEA; REPRODUCTION; BIVALVE; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Crassostrea gigas; Pacific oyster
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01483237; https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10240

International audience The precise environmental conditions under which broadcast spawners spawn in the field remain largely unknown. We investigated this issue in the oyster Crassostrea gigas using three different methods at different time scales in two traditional oyster farming areas of the French Atlantic Coast, the Bay of Arcachon and Marennes-Oléron. We directly recorded spawning at high temporal resolution using high-frequency non-invasive (HFNI) valvometry from 2007–2014 and measured the dry mass and oyster larvae abundance in 2008 and 2009. We analyzed a 29-yr series of oyster D-larvae numbers in the Bay of Arcachon (1982–2010). By combining these three approaches, we demonstrated that during the summer months at both sites, spawning in C. gigas occurs in the morning or during the evening, essentially at high tide of perigean spring tides, independent of the positions of these oysters, above or below the lowest water level. We characterized the associated water currents at the spawning location in the Bay of Arcachon and observed that spawning systematically occurs during the early phase of a water current peak, at the beginning of ebbing. We propose that this water current peak acts as a final trigger for spawning. These results have ecological consequences associated with gamete encounters and the dispersal of fertilized eggs (zygotes).