470
Xth Region, southern Chile (41º52’S, 73º51’W), the spawning starts in spring and
ends in autumn, in accordance with González et al. (2008) who observed individuals spawning under controlled conditions between October and March. There is not
much information in the literature about the reproductive cycle of the species, but
Ortiz and Ré (2011) reported egg batches in April 2005, June 2005 and April 2007
in the coastal waters of the San Jose Gulf (42º15’S, 66º14’W). Although knowledge
on the reproductive biology of R� fontaniana is limited, laboratory studies show that
this species can easily spawn up to 2,500 eggs (Rocha et al. 2001; Briceño-Jacques
2004; González et al. 2008).
25.2 Larviculture Advances and Production
of Juvenile Octopus
25.2.1 Broodstock Conditioning
Until now, broodstock conditioning has not been documented for this species.
Therefore, eggs must be collected from the wild in order to study the ontogenetic
development of embryos as well as the incubation of eggs under controlled conditions. Besides, spontaneous egg laying of this species has been documented under laboratory conditions (Uriarte et al. 2011b). Females can show a fecundity of
1,798 ± 823 eggs per female (González et al. 2008) and the eggs are not placed
within dens but over the surface of rocks. After egg laying, R� fontaniana females
attend to the eggs throughout the embryonic development. This may produce differences in dietary habits between the sexes (Ibáñez et al. 2008) and determine the
beginning of the senescence period of the females, finishing in death.
25.2.2 Egg Incubation
The embryonic development of R� fontaniana takes between 39 and 103 days
(González et al. 2008) but this depends on the incubation temperature because 74
days have been reported at 12 °C by Uriarte et al. (2009), while 39 days at 14 °C and
91 days at 8 °C, with a high range between embryos within the same batch, were
reported by Ortiz and Ré (2011). This period also shows a slower development rate
when compared to tropical species of the Octopus genus, probably because of the
temperature, but still it is faster than the development rate of cold-water species E�
megalocyathus, probably due to the smaller size of moderate-sized octopus eggs
when compared to those of the Patagonian red octopus observed at the Hatchery of
Marine Invertebrate of Universidad Austral de Chile (HIM-UACh).
The size of the eggs ranges between 3.9 and 5.2 mm which is lower than 10 %
of the ML; therefore, its development corresponds to a merobenthic octopus with
a paralarval stage. The growth rate of embryo length is exponential, reaching an
Í. Uriarte and A. Farías
Xth Region, southern Chile (41º52’S, 73º51’W), the spawning starts in spring and
ends in autumn, in accordance with González et al. (2008) who observed individuals spawning under controlled conditions between October and March. There is not
much information in the literature about the reproductive cycle of the species, but
Ortiz and Ré (2011) reported egg batches in April 2005, June 2005 and April 2007
in the coastal waters of the San Jose Gulf (42º15’S, 66º14’W). Although knowledge
on the reproductive biology of R� fontaniana is limited, laboratory studies show that
this species can easily spawn up to 2,500 eggs (Rocha et al. 2001; Briceño-Jacques
2004; González et al. 2008).
25.2 Larviculture Advances and Production
of Juvenile Octopus
25.2.1 Broodstock Conditioning
Until now, broodstock conditioning has not been documented for this species.
Therefore, eggs must be collected from the wild in order to study the ontogenetic
development of embryos as well as the incubation of eggs under controlled conditions. Besides, spontaneous egg laying of this species has been documented under laboratory conditions (Uriarte et al. 2011b). Females can show a fecundity of
1,798 ± 823 eggs per female (González et al. 2008) and the eggs are not placed
within dens but over the surface of rocks. After egg laying, R� fontaniana females
attend to the eggs throughout the embryonic development. This may produce differences in dietary habits between the sexes (Ibáñez et al. 2008) and determine the
beginning of the senescence period of the females, finishing in death.
25.2.2 Egg Incubation
The embryonic development of R� fontaniana takes between 39 and 103 days
(González et al. 2008) but this depends on the incubation temperature because 74
days have been reported at 12 °C by Uriarte et al. (2009), while 39 days at 14 °C and
91 days at 8 °C, with a high range between embryos within the same batch, were
reported by Ortiz and Ré (2011). This period also shows a slower development rate
when compared to tropical species of the Octopus genus, probably because of the
temperature, but still it is faster than the development rate of cold-water species E�
megalocyathus, probably due to the smaller size of moderate-sized octopus eggs
when compared to those of the Patagonian red octopus observed at the Hatchery of
Marine Invertebrate of Universidad Austral de Chile (HIM-UACh).
The size of the eggs ranges between 3.9 and 5.2 mm which is lower than 10 %
of the ML; therefore, its development corresponds to a merobenthic octopus with
a paralarval stage. The growth rate of embryo length is exponential, reaching an
Í. Uriarte and A. Farías