Larval dispersal as a means of genetic exchange between geographically separated populations of shallow-water benthic marine gastropods

• Published in: The Biological Bulletin
• Main Author: Scheltema, R. S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Chicago Press 1971
• Subjects: Lamarck; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/34225/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/34225/1/gastropods.pdf; https://doi.org/10.2307/1540075

1. Ten species of prosobranch gastropod veligers collected from the open waters of the North Atlantic Ocean have been identified by comparison of their larval shells with the protoconchs of identifiable juvenile or adult museum specimens. The larvae described are those of Cymatium parthenopeum (von Salis), Cymatium nicobaricum (Röding), and Charonia variegata (Lamarck) belonging to the family Cymatiidae; Tonna galea (Linné) and Tonna maculosa (Dillwyn) belonging to the family Tonnidae; Phalium granulatum (Born) belonging to the family Cassidae; Thais haemastoma (Linné), a muricid; Philippia krebsii (Mörch), an architectonicidae; Smaragdia viridis (Linné), a neritid; and Pedicularia sicula Swainson belonging to the family Ovulidae. 2. The geographical distribution of the veligers of these ten gastropod species has been determined in the North and tropical Atlantic from approximately eight hundred and fifty plankton tows. The relationship between the North and Equatorial Atlantic circulation and the dispersal of gastropod veliger larvae can be seen from these data (Figs. 5-12). Charonia variegata, Philippia krebsii, and Pedicularia sicula were found in all three trans-Atlantic currents sampled, namely, the eastwardly moving North Atlantic Drift and the westwardly flowing North and South Equatorial Current. Cymatium parthenopeum and Tonna galea were found throughout the North Atlantic gyre, but only from scattered records in the South Equatorial Current. Phalium granulatum and Thais haemastoma were found in the North Atlantic Drift and South Equatorial Current. These seven species are regularly dispersed in either direction across the North Atlantic barrier. Smaragdia viridis was found in the western half of the North Atlantic Drift and in the eastern half of the South Equatorial Current; it is probably less frequently transported across the Atlantic. Cymatium nicobaricum veligers were found only once in mid-ocean in the North Atlantic Drift; all other records were restricted to the tropical and warm temperate ...