Pre-hatching development in the intertidal zone negatively affects juvenile survival and physiology in the muricid gastropod Acanthina monodon

Encapsulated development in the intertidal environment can potentially expose developing embryos to environmental stresses, particularly during low tides. Such stresses can affect juvenile performance after hatching. Capsules-containing advanced pre-hatching stages of the snail Acanthina monodon were collected during July–August 2017 from rocks in the intertidal and subtidal environments along the coast of Valdivia, Chile (Calfuco beach, 39°79′27″S; 73°39′27″W) and brought to the laboratory, where hatching of the juveniles took place. The number of embryos per capsule in relationship to capsule size was determined for capsules from the two environments, as were the juvenile hatching size and the number of juveniles hatching from each capsule. Survival and respiratory performance were also monitored for juveniles from the two locations. Neither embryonic packaging nor the number of juveniles hatched per capsule, nor the hatching size of the juveniles evidenced any differences for capsules that were collected in the two different environments. In general, juvenile survival was low (