JPR Advance Access originally published online on February 16, 2004
Journal of Plankton Research 2004 26(4):487-493; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbh040
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Journal of Plankton Research Vol. 26 No. 4 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved
Host location by larvae of a parasitic barnacle: larval chemotaxis and plume tracking in flow
1 Institute for Nature Conservation Research, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel, 2 Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Bar-Ilan 52900, Israel and 3 Institute of Physics, Potsdam University, Am Neuen Palais 10, D-14469 Germany
* Corresponding Author: zpast{at}yahoo.com
Numerous studies describe stimulation and/or enhancement of larval settlement by distance chemoreception in response to chemical factors emitted by conspecific adults, host and prey species and microbial films. However, active upstream tracking of odor plumes, needed in order to locate specific, spatially limited settlement sites, has thus far received little scientific attention. This study examines host location in flow and still water by larvae of the parasitic barnacle Heterosaccus dollfusi, which inhabits the brachyuran crab Charybdis longicollis. Experiments included analysis of larval motion patterns under four conditions: still water, in flow, in still water with waterborne host metabolites and in flow with host metabolites. Our results show that H. dollfusi larvae are capable of actively and effectively locating their host in still water and in flow, using chemotaxis and rheotaxis and modifying their swimming pattern, direction, velocity, determination and turning rate to accommodate efficient navigation in changing environmental conditions.