Reproduction and Larval Ecology of Bathyal Echinoderms

对于几乎所有的深海无脊椎动物来说，幼虫在哪里发育的问题仍然没有答案。它们要么必须长途跋涉到地表水中取食，忍受温度、压力和其他因素的极端变化，要么必须在一个太深的地区生长，无法养活它们的近岸同类赖以为生的小型植物。在使用载人潜水器进行的初步研究中，收集并产卵成虫，并在实验室饲养由此产生的幼虫。与预测相反，大多数被研究的物种是浮游营养型（摄食）而不是食栖型（非摄食）。此外，卵泡营养物种的卵可能在水面上发育。这些发现意义重大，因为之前大多数深海生殖研究都是使用保存下来的材料进行的。本研究旨在比较几种棘皮动物（主要是海胆和海星）的发育模式和速率、幼虫营养和扩散潜力，这些棘皮动物从巴哈马水域的浅陆架栖息地到较低的深海区。

The question of where larvae develop remains unanswered for virtually all deep-sea invertebrates. They must either ascend great distances to feed in surface waters and tolerate extreme changes in temperature, pressure, and other factors, or they must develop in a region which is too deep to support the small plants on which their near-shore counterparts feed. In preliminary studies using manned submersibles, adults were collected and spawned, and the resulting larvae reared in the laboratory. Contrary to predictions, the majority of species studied were planktotrophic (feeding) rather than lecithotrophic (non-feeding). Moreover, the lecithotrophic species had buoyant eggs that probably develop at the surface. These findings were significant, as most previous studies of deep-sea reproduction were conducted using preserved material. This research proposes to compare developmental patterns and rates, larval nutrition and dispersal potential for several echinoderm species (primarily sea urchins and starfish) occuring from shallow shelf habitats to the lower bathyal zone in Bahamian waters.