MORPHOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL DEFENSES OF TROCHOPHORE LARVAE OFSABELLARIA CEMENTARIUM(POLYCHAETA) AGAINST FOUR PLANKTONIC PREDATORS

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Abstract
Eggs, pre-setal trochophores and setose trochophores of the polychaete S. cementarium were offered to 4 planktonic predators; Pleurobrachia bachei (Ctenophora), Aequorea victoria (Hydrozoa), brachyuran megalopa (Crustacea) and juvenile Sebastes spp. (Pisces). Each predator species captures prey differently and the prey, although similar in size, differ in motility and presence or absence of setae. Consumption of non-motile eggs was greater by megalopa and less by A. victoria than consumption of pre-setal trochophores; differences in predator feeding mechanisms account for this. Setose trochophores were always consumed at lower rates than the younger stages. Setae can function in larval defense against an array of predators with different feeding mechanisms, but swimming may increase, decrease, or have no effect on the rate of predation, depending on the predator species.

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