Distribution and habitat preferences of sea urchin species in Shirikawa Bay, Yamaguchi, during the period from 2005 to 2007
Bulletin of the Faculty of Education, Yamaguchi University. Natural science Volume 57 Issue 2
Page 95-105
published_at 2008-01-31
Title
Distribution and habitat preferences of sea urchin species in Shirikawa Bay, Yamaguchi, during the period from 2005 to 2007
Creators
Kawasaki Shinichiro
Creators
Nishimura Hajime
Creators
Nakano Michihiro
Creators
Yamaguchi Tadashi
Source Identifiers
Creator Keywords
sea urchins
Shirikawa Bay
habitat
breading season
We studied habitats of sea urchin species in Shirkawa Bay in Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, during the period from June 2005 to June 2007. Nine species were identified from Shirikawa Bay, which included 6 families. Several hundreds of Scaphechinus mirabilis appeared in a sandy beach in only early spring, while some regular sea urchin species, the mature Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus and the smaller Anthocidaris crassispine than ones in a shore out of the bay, were found often under the rocks in a shore in the bay through these survey periods. Additionally, Pseudocentrotus depressus were always found in the subtidal zone in a shore in/out of the bay. In a muddy beach, the only mature Temnopleurus toreumaticus inhabited. These results suggested that each sea urchin species in Shirikawa Bay segregates the own habitat and that S. mirabilis may change their habitats for spawning. We also investigated the breeding seasons of H. pulcherrimus and T. toreumaticus in this area by chemical induction of spawning. H. pulcherrimus spawned mature gametes from the middle of December to the middle of April and T. toreumaticus did from June to the middle of November. These results indicate the possibility that the provision of mature gametes by these species for a whole year contributes to the developmental biology with sea urchins in this area.
Languages
eng
Resource Type
departmental bulletin paper
Publishers
山口大学教育学部
Date Issued
2008-01-31
File Version
Version of Record
Access Rights
open access
Relations
[ISSN]1349-810X
[NCID]AN00243950
Schools
教育学部