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Carrion-feeding on the sediment surface at nocturnal low tides by the polychaete Phyllodoce mucosa

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Abstract

Harsh physical conditions in the intertidal zone are the cause of an ample amount of dead macroinvertebrates, which constitute a food source for carrion-feeders. In the European Wadden Sea, this trophic guild includes decapod crustaceans and fish when the tide is in, while during nocturnal low tides the polychaete Phyllodoce mucosa is attracted in large numbers by dead mollusks, crabs or worms on the sediment surface. Within 10 s worms emerged to the surface, crawled as far as 15 m on mucus trails towards the carcass, sucked in tissue up to one-third of their own weight, and then quickly retreated to below the surface. Abundance of P. mucosa was highest in the lower intertidal zone and winter. The seaward high abundance pattern, however, did not continue into the shallow subtidal. In summer, few were attracted during daytime or when the tide was in. However, up to 447 worms aggregated at a single crushed mussel within 20 min at dusk during low-tide exposure. This study suggests that during winter carrion-feeding is an important trophic niche on cold-temperate, intertidal mud flats occupied by a phyllodocid polychaete that is segregated in feeding time from most other scavengers and benefits from cold-sensitive benthic invertebrates.

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Acknowledgements

We thank W. Armonies and N. Hernandez for helpful suggestions and reading the manuscript. Financial support was provided by Korea Science and Engineering Foundation within the framework of the KOSEF–DFG Joint Research Program 2002. The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which the experiments were performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, Inha University, 402-751, Incheon, Korea

    C.-G. Lee & J.-S. Hong

  2. Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, OSB 517 West Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4320, USA

    M. Huettel

  3. Wadden Sea Station Sylt, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Hafenstrasse 43, 25992, List, Germany

    K. Reise

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  1. C.-G. Lee
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  2. M. Huettel
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  3. J.-S. Hong
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  4. K. Reise
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Correspondence to C.-G. Lee.

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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe

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Lee, CG., Huettel, M., Hong, JS. et al. Carrion-feeding on the sediment surface at nocturnal low tides by the polychaete Phyllodoce mucosa . Marine Biology 145, 575–583 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1334-6

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