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Next article FreeAbout the CoverPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreCover“Who is nibbling at my little house?” The old witch in the fairy tale “Hänsel und Gretel” had reason to be concerned because if the nibbling had continued, over time the house would have experienced serious damage. The lesson could be to not build your house out of food. However, this is exactly what many marine invertebrates do. How do they manage to maintain the integrity of the house while at the same time satisfying their food requirements? This is the question that Osvaldo Cerda and co-authors investigated in their study (pp. 248–258) on the nest-building habits of the marine amphipod Peramphithoe femorata.Amphipods from the family Ampithoidae make nests on algae by gluing together algal pieces or curling up kelp blades. The kelp curler Peramphithoe femorata, a common inhabitant of kelp forests in the SE Pacific, curls up blades of the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera. Spinning self-produced silk threads between the two sides of the kelp blades, these amphipods double over the blade and construct a closed, tube-like nest within a few hours (*for short videos of nest-building, see BEDIM, 2010). The amphipods feed on the blade tissues inside their nests, and females, as seen on the cover, share nests with their small offspring.How do these amphipods avoid eating themselves out of house and home? Carefully observing the amphipods in their nests, Cerda et al. noticed that nests are continuously renovated in fine-tuned synchrony with the growth dynamics of the kelp blades. A blade grows from its basis outward—that is, toward the tip. An amphipod, in turn, starts its nest near the tip of the blade and expands it toward the blade basis while feeding on the nest walls. Thus, the nest is not static, but a dynamic structure that steadily moves against the growing blade like a running conveyor belt. The authors suggest that this continuous nest renovation allows amphipods to remain for prolonged periods in a safe (and tasty) home. Nevertheless, aging kelp blades stop growing, forcing the amphipods to move on and start a new nest, most likely on young and growing blades.Credits: Cover photo and layout, Iván A. Hinojosa (Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile).* BEDIM (Biology, Ecology & Diversity of Invertebrates from Marine Environment). 2010. Nest-building behavior by the amphipod Peramphithoe femorata on the kelp Macrocystis pyrifera. [Online] Available: http://www.bedim.cl/videos.htm [2010, 20 May]. Next article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Biological Bulletin Volume 218, Number 3June 2010 Published in association with the Marine Biological Laboratory Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/BBLv218n3cover Views: 204Total views on this site © 2010 by Marine Biological Laboratory. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.