Delving into the spread of marine life
A paper by Dr. Masako Nakamura of the OIST Marine Biophysics Unit on the ecology of one of deep-sea limpets called Lepetodrilus nux has been published in the Marine Ecology Progress Series. These deep-sea limpets are conches with shells about 1 cm long. They have been confirmed to live in the long, narrow seabed known as the Okinawa Trough, located at an average of depth of 1000 meters and northwest of the Nansei and Ryukyu Islands. In this paper, three major findings are reported: new limpet habitats in the Okinawa Trough, the process of limpet population formation surmised from their shell length, and limpet reproduction patterns. This is the first study of the life history of limpets living in the Okinawa Trough, including their reproduction and spread, and Dr. Nakamura's work provides insights into their ecological mechanisms.