The effect of substrate particle size on the production of mucus in Haliotis tuberculata L. and the importance of this in a culture system

Factors affecting settlement and early post‐settlement survival of the New Zealand abaloneHaliotis australis

“…Mucous trail surfaces may be effective for a number of reasons: pre-grazing plates to create the mucous trail may simply remove loose over-story diatoms from a settlement surface leaving the prostrate genera most suitable for settlement (Matthews & Cooke 1995); it may provide a nutrient media to encourage the growth of suitable bacteria and diatoms (Austin et al 1990); it may act as an adhesive trap for diatoms (Davies et al 1992); or it may provide high energy muco-polysaccharides (Culley & Sherman 1985) for ingestion by the newly settled abalone. The extra-cellular algal secretions eaten by the newly settled abalone larvae are mainly polysaccharides (Hoagland et al 1993), and it is likely that abalone sourced muco-polysaccharides are also utilised as a source of nutrition.…”

The effect of trail‐following on the locomotion of the marsh periwinkleLittorina irrorata(mesogastropoda: Littorinidae)1

“…The amount of mucus required for movement over a coarse substratum, such as marsh sand, appears to be significantly greater than that needed to facilitate movement over smoother surfaces. The abalone Haliotis tuberculata increases mucous production exponentially with substratum particle size (Culley and Sherman, 1985), with the additional mucus perhaps filling troughs among large substratum particles. Thus, mucous trails might function to stabilize the substratum by increasing cohesion among particles, thereby providing a smoother surface over which to crawl and ultimately reducing the amount of mucus required to lubricate the foot during locomotion.…”

Energy saving through trail following in a marine snail

“…Trail following in littorinids tends to occur in an opportunistic manner (see Davies & Beckwith 1999;Edwards & Davies 2002; see Davies & Hawkins 1998, for review) probably because snails are unable to detect mucus trails until they encounter them. Culley & Sherman (1985) demonstrated that mucus production varies with the microtopography of the substratum, gastropods laying more mucus on rough surfaces to fill pits and crevices, than on smooth surfaces. Hence, crawling on rough surfaces requires more energy in the form of mucus and trail following on a carpet of mucus under such circumstances could be particularly beneficial.…”

“…We hypothesized that because mucus trails may both stabilize the substratum and produce a smoother surface over which to move, the amount of mucus produced is reduced while animals are trail following. Culley & Sherman (1985) demonstrated that surface topography can influence the amount of mucus required for locomotion in the ormer Haliotis tuberculata. Tankersley (1989) demonstrated that the locomotory force applied is reduced in trail following, as opposed to trail laying, in Littorina irrorata.…”