TRANSFER OF NEMERTEAN EGG PREDATORS DURING HOST MOLTING AND COPULATION

¹ Bodega Marine Laboratory, Bodega Bay, California 94923
² Department of Biology, California State College Stanislaus, Turlock, California 95380
³ Marine Science Institute and the Department of Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106

Juvenile nemertean egg predators were able to efficiently transfer from the premolt cuticle to the postmolt cuticle of male and female crabs when the host molted. These worms also efficiently transferred from male to female hosts at copulation. The synchronized responses of the nemertean worms to host physiology and behavior dramatically concentrate the nemertean population on the sole food source required for worm reproduction: crab eggs. The efficient location of reproductive crabs by juvenile worms increased the likelihood that these worms can have significant effects on crab fisheries when worm population density is high.