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Feeding biology of a habitat-forming antipatharian in the Azores Archipelago

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Abstract

Benthic suspension feeders have developed a variety of feeding strategies and food availability has often proven to be a key factor explaining their occurrence and distribution. The feeding biology of coral species has been the target of an increasing number of studies, however most of them focus on Scleractinia and Octocorallia, while information for Antipatharia is very scarce. The present study focused on Antipathella wollastoni, a common habitat-forming antipatharian in the Azores Archipelago, forming dense black coral forests between 20 and 150 m. The objective of the study was to investigate the food preferences of the target species upon availability of different isotopically enriched food substrates and determine its ability to capture zooplankton prey under different flow speeds. The species was able to utilize different food sources including live phytoplankton, live zooplankton and dissolved organic matter (DOM), indicating the ability to exploit seasonally available food sources. However, ingestion of zooplankton enhanced carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) incorporation in coral tissue and metabolic activity, highlighting the importance of zooplankton prey for vital physiological processes such as growth and reproduction. Maximum zooplankton capture rates occurred under 4 cm−1, however the species displayed high capacity to capture zooplankton prey over different flow rates highlighting the ability of A. wollastoni to exploit high quantities of shortly available prey.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under the ATLAS project (Grant Agreement No. 678760). This output reflects only the author’s view, and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. MR is funded by a DRCT PhD grant (reference M3.1.a/F/047/2015.), and DvO is partially supported by VIDI grant 864.13.007 (NWO, the Netherlands). We are grateful to Gerald Hechter Taranto and David Figueras for their help with sampling and Peter van Breugel for sample analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IMAR - Instituto do Mar, University of the Azores, Rua Frederico Machado 4, 9901-862, Horta, Portugal

    M. Rakka, A. Godinho, M. Bilan & M. Carreiro-Silva

  2. OKEANOS Research Unit, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Azores, 9901-862, Horta, Portugal

    M. Rakka, A. Godinho, M. Bilan & M. Carreiro-Silva

  3. Group of Ecosystems Oceanography (GRECO), Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares, Moll de Ponent s/n, 07015, Palma, Spain

    C. Orejas

  4. Department of Estuarine and Delta Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ-Yerseke) and Utrecht University, Yerseke, The Netherlands

    S. R. Maier & D. Van Oevelen

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  1. M. Rakka
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Rakka, M., Orejas, C., Maier, S.R. et al. Feeding biology of a habitat-forming antipatharian in the Azores Archipelago. Coral Reefs 39, 1469–1482 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-020-01980-0

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