Embryology and life history of chaetopleura apiculata

The breeding season of Chaetopleura apiculata begins about June 20th to June 25th and continues until about October 1st. Spawning takes place in the early evening, 8 to 11 O'clock. The cleavage and early development are strikingly similar to that of Ischnochiton as described by Heath, and is typically molluscan. The egg is enclosed in a bristly chorion from which it hatches after twenty‐five to thirty hours. The larva is a large opaque trochophore which gradually transforms into a veliger larva by the development of the shell and foot. It settles to the bottom and metamorphoses into the adult form after six to ten days. It becomes sexually mature in one year and is full grown in three or four years, when it measures 29 × 18 mm. or less.