Abstract:
Late stage larvae (cyprids) of the barnacle Semibalanus balanoides frequently encounter freezing conditions along
the northwest Atlantic coast. S. balanoides cyprids survived for more than 4 weeks embedded in sea ice, and a
significant fraction of larvae held in ice up to 2 weeks successfully settled and metamorphosed after thawing. Larvae
that completed metamorphosis continued to develop and reproduce. In settlement experiments with cyprids of known
age and where settled cyprids were removed every other day from the experimental containers, cyprids held in ice
for 2 weeks settled and metamorphosed more than nonfrozen larvae. Mean time to metamorphosis was longer for
frozen cyprids than for nonfrozen ones, and maximum time to metamorphosis was 38 d for cyprids held in sea ice
for 2 weeks and 26 d for cyprids in nonfrozen treatments. Larval tolerance to freezing conditions greatly expands
the environmental tolerance repertoire of marine invertebrates and may help explain the ecological success of this
widespread intertidal species.
Description:
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2005. This is the author's version of the work. It is
posted here by permission of American Society of Limnology and Oceanography for personal use, not for redistribution. The
definitive version was published in Limnology and Oceanography 50 (2005): 1520-1528.
