Reproductive biology of Cosmasterias lurida (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) on anthropogenically influenced substratum from Golfo Nuevo, Northern Patagonia (Argentina)

PASTOR DE WARD, CATALINA TERESA; RUBILAR, TAMARA; DÍAZ DE VIVAR, MARÍA ENRIQUETA; GONZALEZ PISANI, XIMENA; ZARATE, ERICA; KROECK, MARINA; MORSAN, ENRIQUE

MARINE BIOLOGY

Springer

Año: 2007 vol. 151 p. 205 - 217

0025-3162

The starfish Cosmasterias lurida was sampled from the pier piles of Almirante Storni in the Golfo Nuevo, northern Patagonia, from November 2001 to November 2003. In this anthropogenically modified site there is an unusually abundant food supply of mussels and large aggregations of starfishes. The reproductive cycle was studied by organ indices and histological examination of gonads. The highest gonad index (GI) values were found in the summer (February–March), followed by a drop in GI values, indicating spawning. Histological analyses indicated  that gametogenesis takes place from June to January, sexual maturity occurred during the summer and spawning occurred in April. The GI and pyloric caeca index (PCI) tended to have an inverse relationship, but this was only statistically significant in males. However, biochemical  analyses of the starfish indicated no transfer of nutrients between pyloric caeca and gonads in either sex. In fact, simultaneous accumulation of carbohydrates was found in the pyloric caeca and gonads of both sexes..