Diet of the invasive sea slug Pleurobranchaea maculata in Patagonian coasts

BOKENHANS, V.; FERNÁNDEZ ALFAYA, J.E.; BIGATTI, G.; AVERBUJ, A.

NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY

RSNZ PUBLISHING

Lugar: Auckland; Año: 2019

0301-4223

High densities of theinvasive sea slug, Pleurobranchaeamaculata, have been detected in Argentinean coasts, but studies on theadaptation of the species are absent until now. Scuba diving samplings and stomachcontents of P. maculate in twosampling sites located at Golfo Nuevo,Argentina, revealed animals as a major prey, but surprisingly algae ingestion on bothsampling sites were abundant, consuming Rhodophyta or Phaeophyta overChlorophyta. This fact was not reported in previous studies that described opportunisticcarnivorous feeding habits of species belonging to the genus Pleurobranchaea. Significant differences on the animal prey items were found betweensampling sites, however sedentary polychaetes are the main consumed group atboth sites. These results are useful to understand the adaptation of theinvasive species in bottoms of Argentina and to monitor future changes in thebenthic communities that P. maculata colonizes.