Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T02:36:57.731Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Comparison of the Biology of Echinus esculentus in Different Habitats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Hilary B. Moore
Affiliation:
Zoologist at the Marine Biological Station, Port Erin, Isle of Man.

Extract

There are two types of ground at Port Erin, differing widely in the general environmental conditions, and each with a characteristic type of urchin on it. The difference is sufficiently well marked for the local fishermen, who collect the urchins for sale to summer visitors, to distinguish them as different types. The littoral urchins from the Breakwater are larger and thicker shelled than those from the Breast. Their gonads reach a greater maximum size, and, in fact, never fall as low even as the maximum volume for the Breast urchin gonads. This difference is probably correlated with the much greater food supply on the Breakwater, since the gonad is the one organ of the body in which the animal can store reserve food material. Spawning commences in March or April and lasts for about two months, but is slightly earlier on the Breakwater than on the Breast. Ripening also takes place considerably earlier in both sexes on the littoral ground. Spawning seems to set in at a temperature of about 7° C., and the colder winter of 1931, compared with 1932, was associated with a later ripening and spawning, i n the former year. Similarly it is suggested that the slightly later spawning on the Breast than on the Breakwater is correlated with the slightly later rise in the temperature of the water on the deeper water ground in the spring.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1934

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Elmhirst, R. E. 1922. Notes on the Breeding and Growth of Marine Animals in the Clyde Sea-Area. Ann. Rept. Scottish Mar. Biol. Assoc, pp. 1943.Google Scholar
2. Orton, J. H. 1929. On the occurrence of Echinus esculentus on the Foreshore in the British Isles. Journ. Mar. Biol. Assoc., N.S., Vol. XVI, No. 1, pp. 289296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Stott, F. C. 1931. The Spawning of Echinus esculentus and some Changes in Gonad Composition. Journ. Exp. Biol., Vol. VIII, No. 2, pp. 133150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Distributional Charts, 14th Ann. Rept. Liverpool Mar. Biol. Committee, and Biol. Stat. at Port Erin. 1900.Google Scholar