Additional Characters |
Eggs are oblong capsules with stiff pointed horns at the corners deposited in sandy or muddy flats (Ref. 205). Egg capsules are 3.7-5.4 cm long and 2.6-3.0 cm wide (Ref. 41250, 41301, 41298). At Chesapeake Bight, egg capsules measure 3.4-4.3 cm long and 2.6-3.0 cm wide (Ref. 41312).
The dorsal and ventral walls of the capsule are longitudinally striated and are equally convex. Width of the lateral keel is the same along the length of the capsule. Lateral respiratoty fissures begin at a point about two-thirds of the distance from the capsule margin to the tips of the anterior horns and about three-fourths of the distance from the capsule margin to the tips of the posterior horns, These fissures, closed by yolk material, extend almost to the filamentous tips of the horns. The horns are elliptical in cross sectioin. The lateral keels and the capsule walls, to a lesser extent, are covered with masses of fine fibrils (Ref. 41312).
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