Feeding behaviour of the mussel,Mytilus edulis: responses to variations in quantity and organic content of the seston

Abstract

Mussels were fed four concentrations of seston (between 0-99 and 10-3 mg total seston I 1 ), comprising three levels of organic content (71 -9,63-6 and 40-8%), made up from natural silt and two species of cultured phytoplankton. Two of the seston concentrations were below, and two above, the threshold at which pseudofaeces were produced. Measurements of physiological traits (filtration rates, pseudofaeces production, selection efficiency, absorption efficiency, absorption rates and rates of oxygen consumption) were made after 2 days and, for two of the seston concentrations, also after 12 days. When fed at a high concentration of seston of low organic content, the mussels increased their filtration rate, rejected a higher proportion of filtered material as pseudofaeces, and increased the efficiency with which filtered matter of higher organic content was selected for ingestion; this resulted in a constancy of the relationship between ingestion rate and the concentration of particulate organic matter, regardless of differences in seston organic content. Between 2 and 12 d, the mussels increased absorption rates for organics, primarily by increasing absorption efficiency, both for total organics and for the carbohydrate component of the diet. We suggest that these responses to changes in the food environment comprise physiological adjustments which result in higher net rates of absorption than would be predicted from considerations only of the organic/inorganic ratio of the suspended particles and assumptions of a non-compensating feeding behaviour.

Influence of a selective feeding behaviour by the blue mussel Mytilus trossulus on the assimilation of 109Cd from environmentally relevant seston matrices

“…Fengly et al 1992). In response to this dynamic food environment, many filter-feeding organisms have developed a highly selective feeding strategy that, depending on seston quality and quantity, allows for the selection of organic over inorganic particles (under conditions of high quantity/quality seston) or both organic and inorganic particles (under conditions of low quality/quantity seston) for ingestion (Bayne et al 1993, Arifin & Bendell-Young 1997, Ward et al 1997. Depending on mussel feeding behavior, when seston is of high qual- .…”

Efecto de la temperatura en respuestas fisiológicas de la concha de abanico Argopecten purpuratus

“…), interpretándose como un umbral de saturación para individuos de este tamaño, originando el cese o disminución de su TA y TI, en este sentido, este comportamiento podría ser explicado como un ajuste fisiológico para la optimización energética y no sólo como una simple respuesta a la exposición en condiciones adversas (Winter 1978, Bayne et al 1993, Velasco & Navarro 2002, Filgueira et al 2009), asimismo en el proceso podrían estar involucrados la selección y el rechazo de alimento a nivel del ctenidio y los palpos labiales (Shumway et al 1985, Bayne et al 1993, Ward & Shumway 2004). …”

Differential absorption of biochemical food components by the scallopArgopecten purpuratusexposed to different salinities and food concentrations

“…The absorption rate (AR) for each biochemical component (PrAR, ChAR, and LiAR) was calculated according to Bayne et al (1993) as the product of the AE and IR of each component.…”