We describe the first reproductive features of a chemosynthetic mussel collected at cold seeps from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Idas modiolaeformis (Bivalvia, Mytilidae) is a hermaphroditic species in which production of male and female gametes likely alternates, a feature regarded as an adaptation to patchy and ephemeral habitats. By using fluorescent in situ hybridization, we demonstrate that bacterial symbionts, while present within the gills, are absent within acini that enclose female gametes and male gametes. This supports the hypothesis of environmental acquisition of symbionts in chemosynthetic mytilids. Prodissoconch I (PI) is relatively small compared to prodissoconch II (PII), suggesting a planktotrophic larval stage. Diameters of the two larval shells are in the range of sizes reported for mytilids, with a PII size between that of the shallow Mytilus edulis and that of the cold-seep mussel “Bathymodiolus” childressi.

Larval shells (PI: prodissoconch I and PII: prodissoconch II) were measured from the cold seeps mussel Idas modiolaeformis from eastern Mediterranean and growth rate was calculated.

Supplement to: Gaudron, Sylvie Marylène; Demoyencourt, Emile; Duperron, Sébastien (2012): Reproductive traits of the cold-seep symbiotic mussel Idas modiolaeformis: gametogenesis and larval biology. Biological Bulletin, 222(1), 6-16