[log in to unmask] wrote:
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>  One female can produce several hundred capsules,
> each of which can contain several hundred eggs.  Such overproduction is
> common among marine invertebrates, and even fish (vertebrates), because the
> dangers are so numerous, and the mortality rate so high.  The female cowrie
> often sits on the eggs for several weeks, until they hatch.  This obviously
> is not "incubation", as in birds, but she does keep the egg capsules clean
> and probably protects them somewhat from would-be predators. The eggs hatch
> into free-swimming ciliated larvae called veligers, which as Lynn mentioned,
> have a microscopic shell with cancellate sculpture.  The veligers continue to
> add to the shell as they grow, forming a conical shell of several whorls,
> which eventually becomes too heavy to remain suspended in the water.  This
> can take anywhere from several days to several weeks, depending on the
> species and other factors.  At that point they sink to the bottom, and begin
> to grow into the "bulla form", which looks rather like an elongate bubble
> shell, or a thin, lightweight olive shell.

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 Hello!

Ooops!  You forgot something. Some cowries such as Zoila (Australia), Cypraeovula
(So Africa),
and the: mus, fultoni, teuleri group have direct developing reproduction. Only
one egg in each capsule is fertile and the remaining are used as food. The
veliger stage is "skipped" and a tiny but well formed
bulla crawls out of the capsule. Dispersal is by crawling thus many of these
direct developing
cowries are very limited in distribution.


Later,

Emilio Jorge Power

Please visit;
"The Liguus Home Page"
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Gold/9440/liguus/lighompa.html
West Melbourne, Florida  USA