FEEDING OF PSEUDECHINUS MAGELLANICUS(PHILIPPI, 1857) (ECHINOIDEA: TEMNOPLEURIDAE) IN THE SW ATLANTIC COAST

PABLO E. PENCHASZADEH; GREGORIO BIGATTI; PATRICIA MILOSLAVICH

OPHELIA

UNIV COPENHAGUE

Lugar: COPENHAGUE; Año: 2004 vol. 58 p. 91 - 99

0078-5326

Gut contents of Psdchinus mogehnicus collected from different habitats from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia were analyzed. In mussel beds off the Province of Buenos Aires at 50 m depth, the most important food items were Myfilus edulis pletenris spat. In communities without Mytilus, food preferences were barnacles, foraminiferans, polychaetes and algae. In beds of the mytilid AuIawmya aha at a depth of 5-10m, main food items were oyster shell fragments and different algae: Rodophyta (leafy algae), EctocarpLs sp., and other algae., In Ushuaia the sea urchins preyed on osaacods, foraminiferans and algae. Multidimensional scaling ordination analyses showed that the diet of II magelknicus magelknicus depends mostly on the kind of inhabited substrate. Our data indicate that I! magelknicus magelknicus from Argentina is omnivorous, consuming any available food resource: they capture drift algae with the aboral tube feet, graze on sessile algae, and prey on other animals. The results suggest that the species play an important role in the community structure of the circa-littoral beds of Mylilus edulis platensis, mainly through an intense predation on bivalve spat.Psdchinus mogehnicus collected from different habitats from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia were analyzed. In mussel beds off the Province of Buenos Aires at 50 m depth, the most important food items were Myfilus edulis pletenris spat. In communities without Mytilus, food preferences were barnacles, foraminiferans, polychaetes and algae. In beds of the mytilid AuIawmya aha at a depth of 5-10m, main food items were oyster shell fragments and different algae: Rodophyta (leafy algae), EctocarpLs sp., and other algae., In Ushuaia the sea urchins preyed on osaacods, foraminiferans and algae. Multidimensional scaling ordination analyses showed that the diet of II magelknicus magelknicus depends mostly on the kind of inhabited substrate. Our data indicate that I! magelknicus magelknicus from Argentina is omnivorous, consuming any available food resource: they capture drift algae with the aboral tube feet, graze on sessile algae, and prey on other animals. The results suggest that the species play an important role in the community structure of the circa-littoral beds of Mylilus edulis platensis, mainly through an intense predation on bivalve spat.