A reproductively active population of Talisman scrobilator (Linnaeus, 1758) (Caenogastropoda, Tonnoidea) in the southeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula, with a report on reproduction and feeding habits

An apparently stable and reproductively active population of Talisman scrobilator (Gastropoda, Bursidae) is reported in the Hornillo Bay, Murcia, on the southeast coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Five specimens were collected and maintained in aquarium, which permitted the observation of a mating event. Approximately 40 days after copulation, the female started oviposition, which took 8-9 days to be completed, also forming an incubation structure on the shell to protect the egg-mass. The egg-mass structure is studied, as well as the embryonic development of the larvae until hatching and the maternal care of the female during this period. The complete process in aquarium conditions, from the copulation to the hatching of the veliger larvae, lasted a total of 104 days. The sampled capsules shortly before hatching contained ca. 1500 veligers in the larger capsules placed in the middle of the egg-mass and ca. 400 in the smaller ones from the periphery. With ca. 200 capsules in the egg-mass, the number of veligers that reach this phase is estimated in a range of 80,000-300,000 (a mean of ≈190,000), of which only ≈43,000 survived after 8 days that lasted the hatching.
Several species of annelids, molluscs and echinoderms were offered as potential prey to the aquarium specimens, of which only Marthasterias glacialis was preyed on, without the attack being lethal to the starfish. It has also been observed that the same attack mechanism used for predation is used as a self-defence method.