Multiple modes of asexual reproduction by tropical and subtropical sea star larvae: an unusual adaptation for genet dispersal and survival

• Main Author: Jaeckle, William B.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: The Marine Biological Laboratory 1994
• Subjects: Starfishes; Reproduction; Asexual; Echinodermata; Cloning; Budding (Zoology); Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://digitool.fcla.edu:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=3174232

Sea star larvae (Echinodermata: Asteroidea), collected from the subtropical Northwest Atlantic Ocean, exhibited three distinct modes of asexual reproduction. A number of different bipinnariae and brachiolariae reproduced by paratomous cloning of the posterolateral arms. This morphogenesis was identical to that of larvae assignable to the genus Luidia. A second mode of asexual reproduction involves the autotomization of an anterior portion of the preoral lobe. This manuscript is available at http://www.biolbull.org/ and may be cited as: Jaeckle, W. B. (1994). Multiplemodes of asexual reproduction by tropical and subtropical sea star larvae: an unusual adaptation for genet dispersal and survival. The Biological Bulletin, 186(1), 62-71. Florida Atlantic University. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute contribution #998.