Ecological Relationship Between Body Size and Fecundity in the Slipper Shell, Crepidula onyx Sowerby (Gastropoda: Calyptraeidae) in Korean Waters

The aim of the present study was to investigate the ecological relationship between female body size (=shell length) and fecundity in a Korean population of protandric hermaphrodite, Crepidula onyx Sowerby, using 6 reproductive variables (the number of capsules per brood, capsule size, the number of embryos per capsule, total number of embryos per brood, egg size, and larval size). The investigation was based on 32 females, 107 egg capsules, 263 eggs, and 250 veliger larvae sampled in January 2000, from Yangpo, the southeastern coast of Korea. All foregoing reproductive variables, except larval size, were significantly correlated with the female body size (p<0.001$\~0.01$). There was a significant increase both in the number of capsules per brood and the number of embryos per capsule with female body size (p<0.001). Consequently, the fecundity of the female C. onyx increased with female body size to over 14.65 mm (the minimum size of egg brooding in the present study). This investigation, therefore, provides additional evidence that female fecundity of protandric hermaphrodites is positively correlated with female body size.