Abstract
Lysianassid amphipods were collected in 1987 from Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, and from the Mingan Archipelago, Gulf of St Lawrence. Meal size and feeding rate of Anonyx nugax (Phipps), Onisimus (=Pseudalibrotus) litoralis (Krøyer) and Orchomenella pinguis (Boeck) were estimated directly, gravimetrically and/or from predictive equations. Size-specific ingestion was greatest in A. nugax, which fed swiftly and efficiently in comparison to O. litoralis and O. pinguis. These two latter species dispersed some bait while feeding and crawling on its surface. Groups of lysianassids fed more wastefully than single individuals. Meal size of females of O. litoralis decreased with increasing maturity, while berried females of O. pinguis consumed less food than mature males. Up to 30 d of starvation had no effect on survival and feeding ability of A. nugax, but 10 to 15 d of starvation dramatically reduced feeding ability or killed O. litoralis and O. pinguis. Differences between meal size, feeding rate and survival point to divergent feeding patterns, which also have been evidenced elsewhere by analysis of gut contents. O. litoralis and O. pinguis are best characterized as facultative scavengers, while large A. nugax are possibly obligate carnivores. Results emphasize the importance of lysianassid amphipods, particularly A. nugax, as bait stealers and as predators of commercial species trapped by various fishing gear.
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe
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Sainte-Marie, B., Percy, J.A. & Shea, J.R. A comparison of meal size and feeding rate of the lysianassid amphipods Anonyx nugax, Onisimus (=Pseudalibrotus) litoralis and Orchomenella pinguis . Marine Biology 102, 361–368 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428488
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428488