Gills and size in some small Littorina

Abstract

Gills were examined in Littorina saxatilis, L. arcana and L. neglecta, using animals of similar size. The form of the gills in the three groups is very similar, although there is an indication of qualitative differences between them. The relationship of number of gill lamellae to shell length shows that L. saxatilis and L. arcana share the same allometric relationship, while in L. neglecta the slope is the same but the intercept is less: at equivalent shell sizes, these animals have about three fewer lamellae. © 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers.