Abstract:In the past decades, the natural resources of Rapana venosa in China have obviously declined because of over-exploitation and habitat destruction. It is very necessary to study the artificial reproduction of R. venosa for recovering natural resources and meeting the demand of the market. However, large-scale artificial seedling of R. venosa is still hampered by low larval metamorphosis rates and feed conversion. In order to solve these problems, larval rearing, spat collection and juveniles' culture were systematically investigated in the study. The results showed that in the early stage of the planktonic larvae, growth rate of shell height was 21.8 μm/d (0-12 d). In the middle stage of the planktonic larvae, growth rate of shell height was 3 μm/d (13-18 d). In the late stage of the planktonic larvae, growth rate of shell height was 46.8 μm/d (19-30 d). After being induced by the fresh seawater from the precipitation pond, the planktonic larvae began to settle and metamorphose on the first day and the process of settlement and metamorphosis ended with 40% of larval metamorphosis on the fourth day. The juveniles of R. venosa can feed on spats of Crassostrea gigas newly settled to the scallop shells and spats of Scapharca broughtonii newly settled to the monofilament nylon. Growth rate of shell height in the juveniles was 65.6 μm/d (1-8 d). From the ninth day, growth rates of the juveniles obviously quickened. Growth rates of shell height were 136.4 μm/d (9-12 d), 307.3 μm/d (13-16 d) and 445.8 μm/d (17-20 d), respectively. It is suggested that the competent larvae of R. venosa can be induced to settle and metamorphose by the fresh seawater from the precipitation pond. Spats of C. gigas and S. broughtonii could be animal feeds of the juveniles of R. venosa.