Every spring the barn swallows return to the marine lab, not exactly on the first day of spring as in San Juan Capistrano, but I always know it’s really spring when they arrive. They build their mud nests against the eaves of the buildings, and spend time chattering at us…
Day: June 9, 2012
Veligers!
The marine gastropods and bivalves go through a larval stage called a veliger. This larva gets its name from the ciliated structure, called a velum, that the animal uses for swimming. Veligers have shells–1 for gastropods and 2 for bivalves–and can withdraw the velum into the shell. Even gastropods that…