Stylochus tauricus,a predator of the barnacle Balanus improvisus in the Black Sea

First description of deep-sea polyclad flatworms from the North Pacific: Anocellidus n. gen. profundus n. sp. (Anocellidae, n. fam.) and Oligocladus voightae n. sp. (Euryleptidae)

“…The ecological function of the two newly described species may be inferred from known predatory behavior of other polyclads. Acotyleans of the families Leptoplanidae and Stylochidae are known to prey on rock and pearl oysters (Newman et al 1993, O'Connor & Newman 2001), blue mussels (Galleni et al 1980, Villalba et al 1997, barnacles (Murina et al 1995), and cultured giant clams (Newman et al 1993). Their impact can be substantial, as they often feed exclusively on spat or juvenile bivalves, resulting in as much as 90% mortality (Newman et al 1993).…”

Settlement of the barnacle Balanus trigonus Darwin, 1854, on Panulirus gracilis Streets, 1871, in western Mexico

“…There is no clear reason why a substantial percentage of individuals that had successfully settled on the lobster died before reaching maximum size (at least 11 mm as seen from specimens on other lobsters), thus leaving only an empty shell as the proof of their earlier settlement on the animal. In a natural, rocky environment, death of balanids is the result of predation by many groups of invertebrates (e.g., flatworms, snails and chitons, brachyuran crabs, echinoderms) (Murina et al, 1995;Buschbaum, 2002) or by intraspecific crowding in dense populations leading to death, thus providing food for scavengers (Connell, 1970). Although predation by living animals cannot be fully discarded, death of young balanids is probably linked to the habitat in which adult spiny lobsters live and move around.…”

Tetraclita (Cirripedia, Thoracica) tests as an important habitat for intertidal isopods and other marine and semi-terrestrial fauna on tropical rocky shores

“…For example, the dipterous fly Oedoparena glauca (Coquillett, 1900) deposits eggs on the operculum of barnacles and the larvae consume the barnacles and complete their metamorphosis inside the empty tests (Burger et al, 1980). Many polyclads, especially stylochids, feed on barnacles and then reside (Hurley, 1976;Rzhepishevskij, 1979;Hirata, 1987) and deposit eggs (Skerman, 1960;Murina et al, 1995;Merory & Newman, 2005) in the empty tests.…”