Abstract
Gelatinous animals have been historically viewed as trophic dead-ends. However, there are increasing data showing these organisms being consumed by diverse predators and demonstrate they play an important role in ecosystem functioning. Here we document the Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) scavenging on stranded Physalia physalis (Linnaeus, 1758) at Sergipe and Bahia, tropical Brazil (11° and 14° Lat. S), based on Instagram® posts. These findings highlight the potential of social media to complement the information provided by traditional academic sources. We also suggest that this predatory interaction is probably more common than reported in the literature, perhaps due to methodological constraints of stomach content analyses, which may overlook the consumption of gelatinous animals by ghost crabs.
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Data availability
We compiled data for this study through the inspection of publicly available images on Instagram®: Prainha in Itacaré, Bahia [https://www.instagram.com/p/CINquEhAm8t/], Mosqueiro in Aracaju, Sergipe [https://www.instagram.com/p/CIQAmggh8Re/], and Praia do Forte, Bahia [https://www.instagram.com/p/CL2VGk9F95k/].
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Acknowledgements
We want to thank Marion Valadier (Itacaré, Bahia) and André Dantas (Aracaju, Sergipe), media authors of the field observations, for posting the original images online and kindly providing permission to use images and information in a publication to illustrate the findings. We are also grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript.
Funding
This study is part of LSN PhD thesis and was supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of High Education Personnel – CAPES, grant no. 88882.382983/2019-01. TBB acknowledges the productivity stipend from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development—CNPq, grant no. 312211/2020-01, call no. 09/2020.
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All authors contributed to the study's conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by LSN, LSC, VHC, and MNJ. The first draft of the manuscript was written by LSN, and all authors edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The Human Research Ethics Committee of Federal University of Paraná (CEP/UFPR) manifests itself by the approval of Research Project number 4.751.477 on 02.06.2021, CAAE: 46505721.7.0000.0102. No animal testing was performed during this study.
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Online Resource 1 Video showing the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) scavenging on stranded Portuguese man-of-war Physalia physalis (Linnaeus, 1758) at Prainha in Itacaré, Bahia, Brazil (14°16′40″S, 38°59′49″W), on 28th November 2020. (MP4 21585 KB)
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Nascimento, L.S., Noernberg, M.A., Bleninger, T.B. et al. Social media in service of marine ecology: new observations of the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) scavenging on Portuguese man-of-war Physalia physalis (Linnaeus, 1758). Aquat Ecol 56, 859–864 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-022-09947-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-022-09947-9