Abstract:The method of adding chemical compounds in the induction of settlement and metamorphosis of eyespot larvae of Coelomactra antiquata was adopted in this paper. The aim is to research the induction of epinephrine, γ-aminobutyric acid(GABA),LDOBA and Ca2+ on the settlement and metamorphosis of C. antiquata larvae,and to assess optimum induction concentrations of four chemicals. The results indicated that exposure to 10-4 mol·L-1 epinephrine induced significant levels of both settlement and metamorphosis in larvae of C. antiquata, and settlement, metamorphosis and survival rates were 88.3%, 92.8% and 98.14% respectively. Larval settlement and metamorphosis rates of C. antiquata were 86.9% and 87.6% respectively, in the presence of GABA at the concentration of 10-5 mol·L-1. L-DOPA could induce the metamorphosis of eyespot larvae of C. antiquata. Maximum metamorphosis rate of 73.3% and settlement rate of 84.9% were achieved after exposure to 10-6 mol·L-1 L-DOPA. The results also showed that the settlement and metamorphosis rates were 86.1% and 42.8% respectively, and the survival rate of the larvae was 87.4% when induced by 20 mmol·L-1Ca2+. When the larvae were induced by exposure to the optimal concentrations of above four kinds of chemicals respectively, the settlement and metamorphosis rates of the larvae were observed significantly higher than those in controls.It was discussed that the induction technique of using Ca2+ could apply to the artificial breed of C. antiquata in large scale production.