Rates of feeding by Thais (Nucella) lapillus (L.)
In: Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. Elsevier: New York. ISSN 0022-0981; e-ISSN 1879-1697, more
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| Keywords |
Behaviour > Feeding behaviour
Body size
Feeding
Mytilus edulis Linnaeus, 1758 [WoRMS]; Thais lapillus (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal |
| Abstract |
A hyperbolic relation between size of T. Lapillus and preferred prey (Mytilus edulis L.) size has been found. Times spent drilling and ingesting the prey did not vary for snails of different sizes, but were shorter at higher temperatures. There was an allometric relation between prey size and the duration of a post-feeding phase: this relationship also was sensitive to temperature. Feeding was more intense in the summer than winter, and this was not due solely to the higher temperatures in the summer. During the winter enforced starvation did not result in greatly increased feeding activity, but in the summer the longer the period of starvation the more intense the feeding behaviour. Assimilation efficiency of Thias for Mytilus flesh was 66%. These results, together with values for oxygen consumption from a related study, were used to predict growth and net energy intake values for Thais of different sizes. |
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