Egg size and larval survival of Mercenaria mercenaria (L.) and Argopecten irradians (Lamarck)

Eggs of the hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria (L.), and the bay scallop, Argopecten irradians (Lamarck), were graded to three size categories, split into replicates and these were replicate-sampled. A chi-square analysis compared the proportion of larvae (48-h survival) to the proportions of eggs in each initial replicate experiment. Statistically significant differences attributed to egg size were found for both species. Large eggs survived better than small eggs, while those of intermediate size showed no difference between expected and observed survival.