LABORATORY STUDIES OF FEEDING AND MATING IN SPECIES OF CARCINONEMERTES (NEMERTEA: HOPLONEMERTEA)

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, California State College Stanislaus, Turlock, California 95380 and University of California, Bodega Marine Laboratory, Bodega Bay, California 94923

Details of the suctorial feeding behavior of some species of Carcinonemertes on crab eggs are described. Under laboratory conditions juvenile and male worms ate an average of 0.6-0.7 crab egg/day. Females ate 2-3 eggs/day. Laboratory feeding rates of worms from different hosts were similar when worms were fed eggs of the same host. No worms ate lobster eggs. Worms grown under laboratory conditions tended to be smaller than similar-aged worms found on hosts. Female worms fed natural host eggs or eggs of unnatural hosts started laying egg strings in a variable number of days. More variability in timing of egg production was observed within a worm species than between species when fed on the same host's eggs. Mating behavior is described for the first time for a species of Carcinonemertes.