Life Cycle

Female Bonellia viridis spawn once a year over the summer/fall (June until January in the Mediterranean). Each time, they produce and release long egg strings of about 1000 eggs which stay in the burrow until hatching (Berec et al. 2005).


Photo by Lucie Malard
Bonellia viridis eggs before release

Hatching occurs about 48 hours after spawning depending on the temperature, and trochophore larvae are produced. These larvae are planktonic lecitotroph meaning that they don't feed under that form and spend a short amount of time in the water column, therefore, they settle quickly and have a low dispersal rate. After 7 to 10 days as trochophore larvae, they settle and become juveniles, it then takes about 2 to 3 years for the female to be sexually mature compared to approximately two weeks for a male (Berec et al. 2005).