Skip Navigation



JPR Advance Access published online on October 28, 2009
Journal of Plankton Research, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbp100
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sullivan, L. J.
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Sullivan, L. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Gut evacuation of larval Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz (Ctenophora, Lobata)

Lindsay J. Sullivan{dagger},*

Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: ljswr{at}sfsu.edu

Received on June 8, 2009; accepted on October 1, 2009


  Abstract

Despite their potential importance as predators, the early life-history stages of ctenophores are relatively understudied. Measurements of digestion times for larvae are especially limited compared with adults, even though these measurements are required to calculate feeding rates using gut content analysis. This study reports digestion times for larval Mnemiopsis leidyi for a wide range of prey. Larval M. leidyi consumed the copepodite and naupliar stages of copepods, polychaete larvae, bivalve larvae, rotifers, rotifer eggs, ciliates and flagellates. Digestion times varied significantly among prey taxa and ranged from ~1 min for aloricate ciliates to 2 h for copepodites. Although ciliates and flagellates are frequently observed in ctenophore guts, feeding on protistan microplankton cannot be quantified adequately using gut content analysis because these prey items are often digested too rapidly to be identified in ctenophore guts.

{dagger} Present Address: Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, San Francisco State University, 3152 Paradise Drive, Tiburon, CA 94920, USA

Corresponding editor: Mark J. Gibbons


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.