Plnctada albina breeds continuously throughout the year, but most actively
during April and May when sea temperatures begin to fall. Thus the species resembles
the majority of tropical marine invertebrates in the former respect but differs from
them in the latter. The heaviest spatfalls occur from June to August when sea
temperatures are at a minimum.
This species is hermaphrodite, with a, general tendency toward protandry.
Both male-female and female-male sex changes, and the bisexual condition which
sometimes prevails during change-over, have been observed. Sex change in bivalves
is discussed, and it is suggested that the phenomenon can best be explained in terms of
a weak hereditary sex-determining mechanism, and germ cell rudiments responsive to
the food reserve level in the body such that male differentiation is favoured at lower
levels and female differentiation at higher levels.
Ontogenia de la semilla de Yucca periculosa (Agavaceae)
