Abstract
The globose moon snail Bulbus carcellesi Dell, 1990 (Naticidae), and its egg masses were collected from the Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon at depths of 201–2082 m) in August 2012 and May 2013. Embryos of this species undergo encapsulated development, and the egg capsules are the largest ever recorded for this family, 8.8–14.1 mm in diameter. The largest naticid egg capsule previously recorded was only 3 mm. Each egg capsule contains a single, 200-µm diameter egg and a considerable amount of white material (supplementary food), which allows the embryo to grow to an enormous size (up to 6.0 mm in shell diameter) before hatching as a crawling juvenile. The volume of this juvenile shell is 45 times the volume of previously reported naticid hatchlings. This great size and the number of whorls in the hatchling shell suggest a slow rate of development, akin to many other deep-sea invertebrates.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Ricardo Farias for his help with the figures, Valeria Teso for helping us with the early sorting of the material and the people involved in the expeditions Talud Continental. We thank Fabian Tricarico for the assistance with the SEM, and finally Gregorio Bigatti and Andres Averbuj for reviewing the manuscript, Alan Kabat and an undisclosed expert who highly improved the manuscript. This work was funded by PICT 2013-2504 from Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, and PIP 0253 from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientifícas y Técnicas. P.P., M.M. and G.P. acknowledge funding by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) of Argentina, to which they belong as members of the Carrera del Investigador Científico y Técnico.
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Pablo E. Penchaszadeh, Melina Atencio, Mariano I. Martinez and Guido Pastorino declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Reviewed by A. Kabat and an undisclosed expert.
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Penchaszadeh, P.E., Atencio, M., Martinez, M.I. et al. Giant egg capsules and hatchlings in a deep-sea moon snail (Naticidae) from a southwestern Atlantic Canyon. Mar Biol 163, 209 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-016-2990-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-016-2990-z