Photoperiodic regulation of feeding and reproduction in a brooding sea star from central California

Abstract

Summary Individuals of the sea star genus Leptasterias from the Monterey Peninsula, California, were maintained for 34 months under two contrasting regimes of seasonally changing photoperiod. In one regime the lights turned on and off in phase with local sunrise and sunset; in the other the daily photoperiod was kept 6 months out of phase with ambient photoperiods. Annual cycles of feeding, gametogenesis, and embryo brooding of the out-of-phase animals were all shifted out of phase with respect to those of the in-phase animals. These small, relatively hardy sea stars appear well suited for more detailed analyses of photoperiodism in asteroids. Keywords: Asteroidea Leptasterias photoperiodismbroodingcentral California