Biol. Bull. Sign up for etocs!
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
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 Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pernet, B.
Right arrow Articles by Kohn, A. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Pernet, B.
Right arrow Articles by Kohn, A. J.

The Biological Bulletin, Vol 195, Issue 3 349-356, Copyright © 1998 by Marine Biological Laboratory

ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

Size-Related Obligate and Facultative Parasitism in the Marine Gastropod Trichotropis cancellata

B. Pernet and A. J. Kohn
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, Washington 98195-1800

The marine gastropod Trichotropis cancellata, previously considered to be exclusively a suspension feeder, is also a kleptoparasite, stealing food from several species of suspension-feeding polychaetes. When feeding independently, T. cancellata uses its pseudoproboscis, an elongate, ciliated extension of the lower lip, to transport particles captured on its ctenidium to its mouth. When parasitizing, the snail positions its pseudoproboscis in the mouth of a host polychaete and diverts a large proportion of the particles captured by the polychaete to its own mouth. In subtidal habitats around San Juan Island, Washington, most individuals of T. cancellata are found in association with the tube openings of suspension-feeding polychaetes. In laboratory experiments, parasitism significantly enhanced fitness in T. cancellata. Juvenile snails that parasitized polychaetes grew faster and survived in greater numbers than those deprived of access to hosts, and parasitic adult snails reproduced more than those without hosts. Parasitism in T. cancellata and related capulid gastropods may have originated in early post-metamorphic stages as a response to constraints on the efficiency of suspension feeding at small sizes; however, because parasitism is more effective than suspension feeding for snails of all sizes, it now persists throughout life.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J MOLLUS STUDHome page
E. V. Iyengar
Suspension feeding and kleptoparasitism within the genus Trichotropis (Gastropoda: Capulidae)
J. Mollus. Stud., February 1, 2008; 74(1): 55 - 62.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 PaleobiologyHome page
G. J. Vermeij
The ecology of invasion: acquisition and loss of the siphonal canal in gastropods
Paleobiology, June 1, 2007; 33(3): 469 - 493.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1998 by the Marine Biological Laboratory.