CHEMICAL STIMULANTS FOR A COMPONENT OF FEEDING BEHAVIOR IN THE COMMON GULF-WEED SHRIMPLEANDER TENUICORNIS(SAY)
- 1 February 1986
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The Biological Bulletin
- Vol. 170 (1) , 1-10
- https://doi.org/10.2307/1541376
Abstract
In a shipboard study we examined the chemical feeding cues for a component of feeding behavior in the common gulf-weed shrimp, Leander tenuicornis, a dominant crustacean within the pelagic Sargassum community. We used the frequency of flexion of the chelae on the second legs to the mouth or maxillipeds as an assay for chemosensitivity. Of 28 single compounds tested, taurine was the most stimulatory followed by beta-alanine, glutathione, trimethylamine, and succinic acid. Proline inhibited spontaneous flexion of the chelae. Taurine was the only single stimulant within a mixture of 15 compounds and it alone could account for the mixture's stimulatory ability. Taurine is also an important feeding and chemoreceptor stimulant for coastal crustaceans. It is present in high concentrations in crustacean prey but is maintained at low concentrations in background seawater. This combination of low background noise and reliably high stimulus intensity in food gives taurine excellent (feeding) signal properties in both coastal and pelagic environments.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Selective improvement in responses to prey odors by the lobster,Homarus americanus, following feeding experienceJournal of Chemical Ecology, 1981