Consumption of picoplankton by the bivalve larvae of Japanese pearl oyster Pinctada fucata martensii

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 192:195-202 (2000) - doi:10.3354/meps192195 Consumption of picoplankton by the bivalve larvae of Japanese pearl oyster Pinctada fucata martensii Yuji Tomaru1,*, Zen'ichiro Kawabata2, Shin-ichi Nakano3 1Department of Environmental Conservation Sciences, The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Ehime University, Tarumi 3-5-7, Matsuyama 790-8566, Ehime, Japan 2Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Otsuka 509-3, Kamitanakami-Hirano-cho, Otsu 520-2113, Shiga, Japan 3Department of Environmental Conservation, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, Tarumi 3-5-7, Matsuyama 790-8566, Ehime, Japan *E-mail: tomaruy@agr.ehime-u.ac.jp ABSTRACT: We examined grazing on bacteria and algal picoplankton (APP) by the larvae of Pinctada fucata martensii, using fluorescently labeled bacteria (FLB) and algae (FLA). Ingestion of both FLB and FLA by the larvae indicated that bacteria and APP serve as food sources for the larvae. With natural assemblages of bacteria and APP, the clearance rates of bacteria by the larvae (70 to 200 µm) ranged between 0.08 and 0.12 µl larva-1 h-1, and those of APP between 0.12 and 1.5 µl larva-1 h-1. Grazing pressure on natural populations of bacteria and APP by the larvae was estimated as <\ 0.01% d-1 in Uchiumi Bay, suggesting that these larvae play a minor role in the consumption of picoplankton. KEY WORDS: Pearl oyster larvae · Clearance rate · Picoplankton Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 192. Publication date: January 31, 2000 Print ISSN:0171-8630; Online ISSN:1616-1599 Copyright © 2000 Inter-Research.