Fig 1.
Diagram of the pallial cavity of a brooding female. Note the veligers that have accumulated near the female palps. A: anterior, CC: countercurrent, DFG: dorsal food groove, M: mouth, P: posterior, Pa: female palps, VFG: ventral food groove.
Fig 2.
Food transport within the gill food grooves by adult oysters (A) non-brooding period and (B) brooding period. DFG: Dorsal food groove; VFG: Ventral food groove. Letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p<0.05); mean + SD shown.
Fig 3.
Utilization of ciliated grooves to move food particles by oyster females brooding progeny at different developmental stages (early: embryos or advanced: veliger stages). DFG: Dorsal food groove; VFG: Ventral food groove. Different letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p<0.05); mean + SD shown.
Fig 4.
Utilization of female oyster ciliated grooves to transport embryo or veligers. DFG: Dorsal food groove; VFG: Ventral food groove. Different letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p<0.05); mean + SD shown.
Fig 5.
Velocity of food particle aggregations in different grooves transported to the mouth in oyster females during the non-brooding period. DFG: Dorsal food groove; VFG: Ventral food groove. Different letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p<0.05); mean + SD shown.
Fig 6.
Velocity of food particles in the food grooves of oyster females that were not-brooding, brooding embryos, or brooding veligers during the reproductive period. DFG: Dorsal food groove; VFG: Ventral food groove. Different letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p<0.05); mean + SD shown.
Fig 7.
Velocity of embryos and veligers through the dorsal and ventral food grooves in brooding females. DFG: Dorsal food groove; VFG: Ventral food groove. Different letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p<0.05); mean + SD shown.
Fig 8.
Velocity at which offspring were moved along the female lamella towards the ventral food groove. VFG: Ventral food groove. Different letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p<0.05); mean + SD shown.
Fig 9.
Schematic of the embryo microcirculation pattern inside the female pallial cavity. 1: embryo movement on the female lamella to VFG, 2: loss of embryo contact with the female gill lamella and their subsequent fall to the DFG. e: embryos, P: posterior female region, A: anterior female region, VFG: ventral food groove, DFG: Dorsal food groove.
Fig 10.
Velocity of embryos on frontal lamellae moving toward the VFG and the velocity at which embryos fall to the DFG after they lose contact with the gill lamella. VFG: ventral food groove; DFG: Dorsal food groove. Different letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p<0.05); mean + SD shown.
Fig 11.
Velocity of female-generated countercurrents, which transport progeny from labial palps to the posterior mantle cavity for embryos and veligers. Different letters above the bars indicate significant differences (p<0.05); mean + SD shown.