Abstract
Many marine invertebrates produce mineralized skeletons whose form suggests an economical construction. Porous as opposed to solid skeletal components are produced by sclerac-tinian corals1,2, balanoid and coronuloid barnacles3, ostreid and hippuritid bivalves4, and almost all modern echinoderm classes5,6. They were also produced by rudist bivalves which were widely successful in Cretaceous tropical seas7. Marine proso-branch gastropods produce a stout external shell sculpture in place of a uniformly thick, ultimately stronger shell8,9. The costs implied by these patterns of economical skeleton construction, however, are unknown10–12. The term ‘cost’ refers to an evolutionary cost measured in terms of reduced fitness. Note that not all such costs are energetic; non-energetic constraints may also influence fitness. I present here evidence that both thick- and thin-shelled morphs of Thais (=Nucella) lamellosa (Gastropoda, Prosobranchia) produce shell material at a remarkably similar rate during maximal growth. Thick-shelled animals, however, exhibit a significantly slower rate of body growth. These results suggest that rates of skeletal growth can limit the rate of body growth and that this limitation represents a potentially important evolutionary cost.
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Palmer, A. Do carbonate skeletons limit the rate of body growth?. Nature 292, 150–152 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292150a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/292150a0
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