Induction of settlement and metamorphosis of planktonic molluscan (Haliotis) larvae. III. Signaling by metabolites of intact algae is dependent on contact

Abstract

Classical models of chemical signaling mechanisms which govern various aspects of the behavior, reproduction and development of animals in aqueous environments have been based largely upon well-characterized systems of chemoreception, chemotaxis and chemosensory behavior in response to concentration gradients of freely diffusible chemical inducers in aqueous or gaseous media (see, for example, Grant and Mackie, 1974; Shorey, 1976). In contrast, we recently have identified a mechanism of chemical signaling and induction governing the behavioral and developmental metamorphosis of certain planktonic molluscan larvae which is mediated, at least in part, by contact-dependent recognition of covalently complexed (or sequestered) non-diffusing algal metabolites.

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