Spawning failure in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius in the northwestern Sea of Japan: Potential environmental causes

The natural populations of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius were studied along 350km of the coast of the Primorye region of Russia (northwestern Sea of Japan). Most of the surveys were carried out in Kievka Bay, where sea urchins were sampled monthly from April 2008 to April 2011. The s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology 2015-04, Vol.465, p.11-23
Main Authors: Zhadan, Peter M., Vaschenko, Marina A., Almyashova, Tatyana N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Broadcast spawning
Echinoderms
Echinoidea
Phytoplankton bloom
Reproductive cycle
Reproductive failure
Strongylocentrotus intermedius
Temperature
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The natural populations of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius were studied along 350km of the coast of the Primorye region of Russia (northwestern Sea of Japan). Most of the surveys were carried out in Kievka Bay, where sea urchins were sampled monthly from April 2008 to April 2011. The sea urchin gonads became ripe in late July–August. However, in two out of three reproductive seasons, extremely high percentage of individuals that did not complete their reproductive cycle by spawning (95% and 53% of unspawned females in 2008 and 2009, respectively) was found. A large-scale egg fragmentation was observed to start in middle September. This phenomenon was also found to different extents in other populations of S. intermedius in the studied area. Unique characteristics of the reproductive cycle of S. intermedius displaying spawning failure were revealed: (1) the cleaning process associated with the resorption of numerous undischarged eggs and spermatozoa was unusually long, lasting for approximately 7months, and (2) the decrease in the gonadal index was significantly lower and occurred 2months later than in the case of normal spawning. Analysis of environmental factors that potentially modulate the spawning process in S. intermedius populations, such as temperature and phytoplankton concentration (measured as the chlorophyll а (Chl а) concentration), showed that large difference in percentage of spawned sea urchins occurred at the nearly identical temperature profiles. At the same time, the positive correlation (p
ISSN:0022-0981
1879-1697
DOI:10.1016/j.jembe.2014.12.017