A shift in germ layer allocation is correlated with large egg size and facultative planktotrophy in the echinoid...

Egg size is a correlate of larval evolution in marine embryos. Comparing species with different egg sizes that develop via similar larvae reveals the flexibility and the constraints underlying larval forms. Clypeaster rosaceus is an echinoid that develops via a facultatively planktotrophic pluteus larva. Unlike most echinoids that develop via plutei, C. rosaceus (1) has a larger egg, with a correspondingly smaller ratio of surface area to volume, and (2) forms a large left coelom early in development. Given these characteristics, we predicted underlying changes in the allocation of embryonic tissues to germ layers. With a low surface-to-volume ratio, the C. rosaceus pluteus likely requires relatively less ectoderm than a typical pluteus, whereas the early formation of a large left coelom likely requires relatively more mesoderm than a typical pluteus. We tested this hypothesis by examining the cell lineage of C. rosaceus. We found that the boundary between ectoderm and endoderm in C. rosaceus has shifted relative to echinoids with more typical planktotrophic plutei and extends to or above the third cleavage plane at the equator of the embryo. This indicates a smaller proportional allocation to ectoderm and a larger proportional allocation to endomesoderm compared to echinoids with smaller egg sizes. On the basis of this observation, we develop a new model for the transition from obligate planktotrophy to lecithotrophy. We argue that species with larger eggs may allocate proportionally more tissue to structures selected for accelerated development. In the case of C. rosaceus, the larval cell lineage apportions more cells to endomesoderm and less to ectoderm due to the smaller surface-to-volume ratio of its larger eggs and the early formation of a large left coelom.