Settling Sand Dollars with Sand-Water

Abstract

Chemical cues are commonly used to convey information to conspecifics and in marine invertebrates are often associated with larval settlement. This research set out to examine methodology surrounding adult-associated pheremonal settling cues observed in ​Dendraster excentricus. I​ hypothesized settlement of juvenile ​D. excentricus ​could be induced via exposure to water that had been saturated in sand from adult sand dollar beds then filtered of visible particulate matter. This was tested by exposing larvae to both filtered and unfiltered concentrations of water associated with sand dollar sand and comparing the settlement rates. Data were inconclusive as only 1.3% of larvae settled and no significant trends were observed. Research still has potentially broad implications in refining established methodology surrounding D. excentricus​ settlement inducers for use in laboratory based research.