Abstract
IT has been recorded by Mortensen1,2,3 that young specimens of the ophiuroids Ophiothrix fragilis Abildgaard, O. triglochis M. and Tr. and Ophiactis Kröyeri Ltk. are sometimes to be found clinging to the arm spines of the adults. The occurrence of the young individuals on the adults does not, in Mortensen's opinion, indicate a viviparous habit in these ophiuroids since one, at least, namely O. fragilis, is known to have pelagic larvæ ; rather, it is “quite by chance that the young ones, after their metamorphosis from the pelagic larvæ, happen to settle down on adult specimens in places where these latter occur in good numbers”2.
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References
Acta Zoologies, 1–2 (1920).
Vidensk. Meddel f. Dansk. naturhist., 93 (1932–33).
Danish Ingolf Exped., 4, Nr. 8.
Trav. Soc. Nat. Petrograd, 46 (1915).
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SMITH, J. Occurrence of young Ophiothrix fragilis within the Genital Bursa of the Adult. Nature 141, 554 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141554b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141554b0
