Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Particle size selection in individuals from epifaunal versus infaunal populations of the nereidid polychaete Neanthes succinea(Polychaeta: Nereididae)

  • Published:
Hydrobiologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Neanthes succinea (Frey & Leuckart, 1847) is a common nereidid polychaete of both epifaunal and infaunal estuarine habitats. The gut contents of individuals collected from two epifaunal and two infaunal habitats are compared. Our a priori expectation was that individuals from epifaunal habitats would be classified as macrophagous with guts indicating carnivory and/or macroalgal herbivory, while individuals from infaunal habitats would be classified as microphagous with guts indicating deposit feeding. At all four locations gut contents indicated deposit feeding with little indication of macrophagous feeding. Average particle sizes for mineral grains did not differ between the four collection sites. For the two infaunal locations mean size of the mineral grains in gut contents was significantly smaller than ambient sediments. In addition to mineral grains, guts contained diatoms, dinoflagellates, macrophytic detritus, protozoan tests, and a variety of metazoans. Our study demonstrates that caution is necessary when inferring feeding type from morphology and that population and habitat specific differences in diet can occur within the same species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bemvenuti, C. E., 1995. A influência da seleção do habitat e do refÚgio na distribuição e abundância de Neanthes succinea (Frey & Leuckart, 1847) (Polychaeta, Nereidae). Iheringia, Sér. Zool. 79: 121–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boesch, D. F., 1977. A new look at the zonation of benthos along the estuarine gradient. In Coull, B. C. (ed.), Ecology of Marine Benthos. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.A.: 245–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammen, L. M., 1980. The significance of microbial carbon in the nutrition of the deposit feeding polychaete Nereis succinea. Mar. Biol. 61: 9–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cammen, L. M., 1982. Effects of particle size on organic content and microbial abundance within four marine sediments. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 9: 273–280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dame, R. F., 1996. Ecology of Marine Bivalves: an Ecosystem Approach. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla. U.S.A.: 272 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dauer, D. M., 1973. Polychaete fauna associated with Gulf of Mexico sponges. Florida Sci. 36: 192–195.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dauer, D. M., 1980. Population dynamics of the polychaetous annelids of an intertidal habitat of Upper Old Tampa Bay. Int. Rev. ges. Hydrobiol. 65: 461–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dauer, D. M., 1993. Biological criteria, environmental health and estuarine macrobenthic community structure. Mar. Poll. Bull. 26: 249–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dauer, D. M., G. H. Tourtellotte & R. M. Ewing, 1982. Oyster shells and artificial worm tubes: the role of refuges in structuring benthic infaunal communities. Int. Rev. ges. Hydrobiol. 67: 661–677.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dauer, D. M., J. A. Ranasinghe & A. J. Rodi, Jr., 1992. Effects of low dissolved oxygen levels on the macrobenthos of the lower Chesapeake Bay. Estuaries 15: 384–391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fauchald, K. & P. A. Jumars, 1979. The diet of worms: a study of the polychaete feeding guilds. Oceanogr. mar. biol. Ann. Rev. 17: 193–284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fauvel, P., 1923. Polychaètes errantes. Fauna de France 5: 1–488.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fong, P. P., 1987. Particle-size utilization in the introduced polychaete Neanthes succinea in San Francisco Bay. Pacific Sci. 41:37–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, G. D. & D. A. Wright, 1988. Unsubstituted polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in sediments, clams, and clam worms from Chesapeake Bay. Mar. Poll. Bull. 19: 459–465.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartman, O., 1968. Atlas of Errantiate Polychaetous Annelids from California. Allan Hancock Foundation. Univ. of Southern California. 828 p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartmann-Schröder, G., 1971. Annelida. Borstenwürmer, Polychaeta. Tierwelt Deutschlands 58: 1–594.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, A. F., N. K. Mountford & J. A. Mihursky, 1977. Temporal variation in upper bay mesohaline benthic communities: 1. The 9-m mud habitat. Chesapeake Sci. 18: 370–378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, A. F., N. K. Mountford, M. H. Hiegel, K. R. Kaumeyer & J. A. Mihursky, 1980. Influence of predation on infaunal abundance in upper Chesapeake Bay, U.S.A. Mar. Biol. 57: 221–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, T. G., 1979. Studies on the sediment of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia. J. Fish Res. Bd Can. 36: 529–536.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kristensen, E., 1988. Factors influencing the distribution of nereid polychaetes in danish coastal waters. Ophelia 29: 127–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhl, D. L. & L. C. Oglesby, 1979. Reproduction and survival of the pileworm Nereis succinea in higher Salton Sea salinities. Biol. Bull. 157: 153–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopez, G. R. & J. S. Levinton, 1987. Ecology of deposit-feeding animals in marine sediments. Q. Rev. Biol. 62: 235–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckenbach, M. W., 1987. Effects of adult infauna on new recruits: implications for the role of biogenic refuges. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 105: 197–206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, A. G. & K. R. Tenore, 1990. The role of nutrition in regulating the population dynamics of opportunistic, surface deposit feeders in a mesohaline community. Limnol. Oceanogr. 35: 710–724.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miron, G. & E. Kristensen, 1993a. Factors influencing the distribution of nereid polychaetes: the sulfide aspect. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 93: 143–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miron, G. & E. Kristensen, 1993b. Behavioural response of three nereid polychaetes to injection of sulfide inside burrows. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 101: 147–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muus, B. J., 1967. The fauna of Danish estuaries and lagoons. Med. Danmarks Fiskeri Havund. 5: 1–316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neuhoff, H. G., 1979. Effects of seasonally varying factors on a Nereis succinea population (Polychaeta, Annelida). Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 1: 263–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penry, D. L. & P. A. Jumars, 1990. Gut architecture, digestive constraints and feeding ecology of deposit-feeding and carnivorous polychaetes. Oecologia 82: 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettibone, M. H., 1963. Marine polychaete worms of the New England region 1. Aphroditidae through Trochochaetidae. U.S. Natl. Mus. 227: 1–356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettibone, M. H., 1982. Annelida. In Parker, S. P. (ed.), Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. Mc Graw-Hill, Inc. B, New York: 1–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powers, S. P., 1999. Supply-settlement relationships in an estuarine fouling community. Gulf Res. Rep. 10: 79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riedel, G. F., J. G. Sanders & R. W. Osman, 1997. Biogeochemical control on the flux of trace elements from estuarine sediments: Water column oxygen concentrations and benthic infauna. Estuar. coast. shelf Sci. 44: 23–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sagasti, A., L. C. Schaffner & J. E. Duffy, 2000. Epifaunal communities thrive in an estuary with hypoxic episodes. Estuaries 23: 474–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taghon, G. L., 1982. Optimal foraging by deposit-feeding invertebrates: roles of particle size and organic coating. Oecologia 2: 295–304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsuchiya, M. & Y. Kurihara, 1979. The feeding and food sources of the deposit-feeding polychaete, Neanthes japonica (Izuka). J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol. 36: 79–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, W. X., I. Stupakoff & N. S. Fisher, 1999. Bioavailability of dissolved and sediment-bound metals to a marine depositfeeding polychaete. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 178: 281–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitlach, R. B., 1980. Patterns of resource utilization and coexistence in marine intertidal deposit-feeding communities. J. mar. Res. 38: 743–765.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Zoologia Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas Campinas, São Paulo, CP: 6109, CEP:13083-970, Brazil

    Erica V. Pardo

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, 23529, U.S.A.

    Daniel M. Dauer

Authors
  1. Erica V. Pardo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel M. Dauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pardo, E.V., Dauer, D.M. Particle size selection in individuals from epifaunal versus infaunal populations of the nereidid polychaete Neanthes succinea(Polychaeta: Nereididae). Hydrobiologia 496, 355–360 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026181823273

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026181823273

Search

Navigation