Integrating Experiments With Subtidal Death Assemblages to Unveil the Predatory Habits of Muricid Gastropods From the Southeastern Pacific

Abstract

As quantitative tools, drill holes have been used to calculate predation frequencies in time and space. These traces can also inform predator preference and some strategies predators use to drill on prey (e.g., edge drilling, site stereotypy, or alternative modes of predation when there is no drill hole). In this study, our goal was to leverage the informative power of drill holes to characterize the predatory habits of muricid gastropods from the central coast of Chile. We integrated information from experiments and death assemblages (DAs) to unveil the predatory strategy of Ancathina monodon, Crassilabrum crasilabrum, and Concholepas concholepas on the mobile gastropod Tegula tridentata and the sessile bivalve Perumytilus purpuratus. Experiments supported previous findings for predatory strategies (basal spine for Ancathina and alternative modes of predation for Concholepas), and showed the stereotypic predation of Crassilabrum on Tegula—a herbivore that is devastating subtidal kelp forests. Based on drill holes from DAs, at least 11 molluscan families are consumed by muricids in these communities. DAs also helped validate the stereotypic predation of Crassilabrum on Tegula, as drill holes were found in the same position both in experiments and DAs. Despite their thinner shells, mytilids were well represented in DAs and were found with drill holes in the five locations sampled. We describe for the first time the predatory strategy of Crassilabrum in Chile and confirm that muricids other than Concholepas are active predators on subtidal rocky habitats from the southeastern Pacific Ocean, a region that is still understudied.

The temperate marine Peruvian Province: How history accounts for its unusual biota

“…In the extant fauna of the Peruvian Province, three of ten shallow‐water muricid species (30%) have a labral tooth (two teeth in Concholepas concholepas ). This incidence is higher than in any other regional muricid fauna (Martinelli et al., 2022 ; Vermeij, 2001 ). Labral teeth were even more common during the Miocene and Pliocene.…”

“…Their role on rocky bottoms and subtidal sand in Chile has been studied by Martinelli et al. ( 2022 ).…”

“…Most drill a hole through the external skeletons of mollusks and barnacles or through the outer wall of tunicates. Their role on rocky bottoms and subtidal sand in Chile has been studied byMartinelli et al (2022).…”

Feeding intensity and daily mussel consumption of Rapa whelk (Rapana venosa) in the north-western Black Sea

“…After the molluscs' death, their shells become elements of thanatocenosis − subfossil groups in modern bottom and coastal deposits (Kidwell & Bosence 1991;Kidwell 2002;Lockwood & Work 2006;Tsolakos et al 2021). Bottom thanatocenoses are constantly replenished with dead mollusc shells from their alive communities, particularly as a result of the damaging effect of predators (Alexander & Dietl 2003;Martinelli 2022). After destruction, the shells turn into separate crystals of calcium carbonate (calcites and aragonites) (Foote et al 2015;Brom & Szopa 2016).…”