Feeding ecology of the velvet swimming crab Necora puber in mussel raft areas of the Ría de Arousa (Galicia, NW Spain)

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Freire González-Gurriarán
Copyright Year	1995
Abstract	The feeding ecology of the velvet swimming crab Necora puber (Decapoda: Portunidae) in 3 mussel raft culture areas of the Ria de Arousa (Galicia. NW Spain) was studied through the analysis of stomach contents. The dominant prey was Pisidia longicornis (50 to 81 % of the diet in the different areas), a small epifaunal anomuran crab that inhabits culture ropes. Other important food components were brachyuran crabs, the mussel Mytilus galloprovincial~s and other bivalves, gastropods, egg cases of the gastropod Nassa spp., the echinoid Psammechinus mliarjs and fishes. Plants (both eelgrass and seaweeds), sponges and polychaetes const~tuted secondary prey, with low quantitative mportance. Habitat was the most ~rnportant factor in diet variability within the ria, related to the spatial differences in abundance and structure of the benthic and raft epifaunal communities. Also, important differences were observed between the diet in soft bottom areas of the Ria de Arousa and rocky zones in other geographical areas, where the importance of seaweeds was higher. The diet of N. puber was dominated by raft epifauna and mussels, and also by the megabenthos. Macroinfauna and plants showed little quantitative importance. For the epifaunal prey, P. longicornis was selected positively and amphipods negatively; in the case of the infauna, bivalves and ophuroids were selected positively, and polychaetes negatively. Diet variability related to Me history was due mainly to ontogenetic changes. Fishes, brachyurans, mussels, echinoids and sponges increased their contribution to the diet with growth, but P. longicornis, egg cases of Nassa spp., and the holothurian Aslia lefevrei presented the opposite pattern. The relationship between body size and gut fullness presented a negative allometry, but absolute food consumption increased with size Food consumption variability was linked mainly to intermoult stage and season. Dunng the immediate premoult and postmoult, there was no food ingestion; however, gut fullness was higher in the recent postmoult compared to intermoult animals. Seasonal changes were due to higher food consumption in autumn and winter. KEY WORDSFeeding . Diet . Mussel culture . Ria de Arousa . Necora puber Portunidae
Starting Page	139
Ending Page	154
Page Count	16
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.3354/meps119139
Volume Number	119
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/119/m119p139.pdf
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.3354/meps119139
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article