Diet and feeding of the nassariid Buccinanops cochlidium from North-Patagonia, Argentina

AVERBUJ, ANDRÉS; PALOMO, G.; BROGGER, MARTÍN IGNACIO; PENCHASZADEH, PABLO E.

AQUATIC BIOLOGY

INTER-RESEARCH

Lugar: Oldendorf/Luhe; Año: 2012 vol. 17 p. 261 - 268

1864-7790

The Nassariidae species are considered to be carrion feeders. Nevertheless, the feeding habits of this family also include herbivory, detritivory, and carnivory. In this work, we studied the diet and feeding behaviour of Buccinanops cochlidium from Patagonic waters. According to our results, B. cochlidium is a benthic carrion feeder and predator. It fed mainly on living bivalves and as an opportunistic carrion feeder on diverse dead animals. It was commonly observed to feed in groups. When one individual of B. cochlidium caught a prey, other individuals approached and opportunistically fed on the remains. The juveniles fed exclusively on carrion, including prey recently killed by conspecific adult snails (39.5% of the scavenging events). Carrion represented 57.8% of B. cochlidium diet as a whole. Predation seemed to be related to B. cochlidium individuals size, in particular the foot is used to hold and manipulate the prey. We observed no feeding activity for B. cochlidium gravid females in the field. In summary, according to our results Buccinanops cochlidium is a carnivorous species, both scavenger and predator, that feeds mainly on dead crabs and living bivalves. Adults of B. cochlidium predate actively and opportunistically fed on dead animals of larger sizes. The hatchlings and juveniles fed exclusively on carrion, including by-products generated by predation of larger B. cochlidium individuals.