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Selective particle ingestion by oyster larvae (Crassostrea virginica) feeding on natural seston and cultured algae

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Abstract

I investigated selective particle ingestion by oyster larvae (Crassostrea virginica) feeding on natural seston from Chesapeake Bay and laboratory-cultured algae of different sizes or chemical content. In 15 of 16 experiments with complex natural suspensions as food, small(<150 μm) and large (>150 μm) larvae selected most strongly for small (2 to 4 μm) food particles, but in the presence of a large (>10 μm)-cell dinoflagellate bloom, large larvae strongly selected much larger (22 to 30 μm) food material (presumably dinoflagellates). When fed simplified mixtures of four cultured algal species (Synechococcus bacillaris, Isochrysis sp., Dunaliella tertiolecta, and Prorocentrum minimum) ranging in size from 1 to 11 μm, small larvae preferred 1 μm algae while large larvae preferred 11 μm algae. In experiments with algal mixtures, and with suspensions of natural particles and added algae, large larvae preferred algal species harvested from exponential-phase cultures over other species from stationary-phase cultures. Larval ingestion rates of the cultured alga Thalassiosira pseudonana were about three times higher for cells with a low carbon:nitrogen ratio (7.2:1) than for high C:N ratio (16.2:1) cells when these cells were offered separately in suspensions of equal concentration. As a result, more algal cells, algal C, and algal N was ingested by larvae fed low C:N cells. However, larvae did not show a significant preference for either type of cell when they were offered in a 1:1 cell mixture. Feeding patterns of C. virginica larvae in natural food suspensions can vary with the composition of these complex suspensions, and ingestion seems dependent not only on the size, but on the growth rate and chemical quality of food particles.

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  1. B. S. Baldwin

    Present address: Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, Marine Coastal Science Building, Cook Campus, 08903-0231, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

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  1. Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies Horn Point Environmental Laboratory, University of Maryland System, 21613, Cambridge, Maryland, USA

    B. S. Baldwin

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Communicated by N.H. Marcus, Tallahassee

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Baldwin, B.S. Selective particle ingestion by oyster larvae (Crassostrea virginica) feeding on natural seston and cultured algae. Marine Biology 123, 95–107 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00350328

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