Abstract

"Two geographically separated natural populations of Mytilus chilensis were utilized to carry out the experimental crosses on the present study. In every crossing, using the factorial design with replication, fertilization of eggs occurred without detection of significant differences among inter and intra-population crosses in relation to percentage of eggs developed into larvae at day 4 (P > 0.05). However, the percentage of abnormal larvae at day 4, was significantly higher among inter-population crosses (P < 0.05). The larvae from each cross were placed into a 200 l fiber-glass tank containing 1