Abstract
The diets of 2 ecologically similar deposit-feeding gastropods (Batillaria attramentaria and Cerithidea california) are described from 3 salt marsh localities in central California, USA. Gut contents revealed high similarity in dietary composition and a predominance of benthic diatoms. Sympatric and allopatric populations of the gastropods did not differ in diet. In both species, diatom food size increased with snail length with large B. attramentaria selecting longer diatom sizes than large C. californica. Size distributions of B. attramentaria differed in sympatric and allopatric populations. In sympatric populations, snail size classes which exhibited the greatest amounts of overlap in diatom size did not occur together. Effects of size-specific behavioral interactions in the gastropods may explain these differences.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Bilmer, A.: Effects of over-crowding on floating behavior in the mud whelk Cominella glandiformis (Mollusca: Gastropoda). New Zeal. J. Mar. Freshwat. Res. 10, 715–720 (1976)
Bonnet, P.: A recent introduction of exotic species of molluscs in California waters from Japan. Nautilus 49, 1–2 (1935)
Calow, P.: The food of Ancylus fluviatilis (Mull.), a littoral stone-dwelling, herbivore. Oecologia 13, 113–133 (1973)
Castenholz, R. W.: The effect of grazing on marine littoral diatom populations. Ecology 42, 783–794 (1961)
Driscoll, A. L.: Structure and function of the alimentary tract of Batillaria zonalis and Cerithidea californica, style-bearing mesogastropods. Veliger 14, 375–386 (1972)
Fenchel, T.: Factors determining the distribution patterns of mud snails. (Hydrobiidae). Oecologia 20, 1–17 (1975a)
Fenchel, T.: Character displacement and coexistence in mud snails (Hydrobiidae). Oecologia 20, 19–32 (1975b)
Hanna, G. D.: Introduced mollusks of western North America. Occ. Pap. Calif. Acad. Sci. 48, 1–108 (1966)
Houbrick, R. S.: The genus Cerithium in the western Atlantic (Cerithiidae: Prosobranchia). Johnsonia 5, 33–84 (1974)
Hylleberg, J. and J. T. Christensen: Factors affecting the intraspecific competition and size distribution of the periwinkle Littorina littorea (L.). Nat. Jt. 20, 193–202 (1978)
Keen, A. M.: Marine molluscan genera of western North America, 26 pp. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press 1963
Levinton, J. S.: Ecology of shallow water deposit-feeding communities Quisset Harbor, Massachusetts. In: Ecology of the marine benthos, pp 191–227. Ed. by B. C. Coull, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press 1967
Levinton, J. S.: The effect of density on deposit-feeding populations: movement, feeding and floating of Hydrobia ventrosa Montague (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia). Oecologia 43, 27–39 (1979)
Macdonald, K. B.: Quantitative studies of salt marsh mollusc faunas from North American Pacific Coast, 316 pp. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, San Diego 1967
MacDonald, K. B.: Quantitative studies of salt marsh faunas from the North American Pacific Coast. Ecol. Monogr. 39, 33–60 (1969)
McAlice, B. J.: Phytoplankton sampling with the Sedgwick-Rafter cell. Limnol. Oceanogr. 16, 19–28 (1971)
McCloy, M. J.: Population regulation in the deposit-feeding mesogastropod Cerithidea californica as it occurs in the San Diego saltmarsh habitat. M. S. thesis, San Diego State University 1979
Nicotri, M. E.: Grazing effects of four marine intertidal herbivores on the microflora. Ecology 58, 1020–1032 (1977)
Odum, E. P.: Fundamentals of ecology, 546 pp. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co. 1959
Peterson, C. H.: Competitive organization of the soft-bottom macrobenthic communities of southern California lagoons. Mar. Biol. 43, 343–359 (1977)
Race, M. S.: Interference competition between native and introduced mud snails: an experimental study of the dynamics and mechanisms of displacement of Cerithidea californica by Ilyanassa obsoleta. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Berkeley 1979
Schoener, T. W.: Non-synchronous spatial overlap of lizards in patchy habitats. Ecology 51, 408–418 (1970)
Stimson, J.: Territorial behavior of the owl limpet Lottia gigantea. Ecology 51, 113–118 (1970)
Whitlatch, R. B.: The ecological life history and feeding ecology of Batillaria zonalis (Bruguiere), 157 pp. M. S. thesis, University of the Pacific 1972
Whitlatch, R. B.: Studies on the population ecology of the salt marsh gastropod Batillaria zonalis. Veliger 17, 47–55 (1974)
Woodin, S. A.: Polychaete abundance patterns in a marine softsediment environment: the importance of biological interactions. Ecol. Monogr. 44, 171–187 (1974)
Yamada, S. B. and C. S. Sankurathri: Direct development in the intertidal gastropod Batillaria zonalis (Bruguiere, 1792). Veliger 20, 179 (1977)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by I. Morris, West Boothbay Harbor
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Whitlatch, R.B., Obrebski, S. Feeding selectivity and coexistence in two deposit-feeding gastropods. Marine Biology 58, 219–225 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00391879
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00391879