CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The preference for a particular type of prey implies an activebehavioral choice of the predator. The present work deals with the prey preferenceof the large stone crab Platyxanthus crenulatus among similar sized gastropodsand bivalves of different substrates using a recent proposed methodology basedon a two-stage approach. In laboratory, crabs received different mollusk speciesseparately to determine the consumption in number of each species when choicewas not possible. Further, crabs were offered the same mollusc species buttogether to record differences of specific consumption when choice was possible.Results were then compared to assess prey preferences. Platyxanthus crenulatusis able to effectively attack and consume the majority of the sympatric molluskspecies, although preferred the dominant species Brachidontes rodriguezii over theothers. Such preference seems to be driven by shell shape and thickness whichmay be a common pattern in prey preference among large stone crab species.