Stimulation of Food Species Growth by Limpet Mucus
- 24 August 1984
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 225 (4664) , 843-844
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.225.4664.843
Abstract
The trails of mucus secreted by certain species of intertidal limpets serve as adhesive traps for the microalgae that are their primary food resource. In addition, the mucus trails of two solitary homing limpets, Lottia gigantea and Collisella scabra, stimulate growth of the microalgae that the limpets consume. In contrast, the trails of an aggregating limpet, Collisella digitalis, do not stimulate microalgal growth. These results and their possible ecological significance are interpreted in light of the differences in the behavioral repertoires of the three limpet species.Keywords
This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
- Locomotion: The Cost of Gastropod CrawlingScience, 1980
- The role of gastropod pedal mucus in locomotionNature, 1980
- Activity pattern as a mechanism of predator avoidance in two species of acmaeid limpetJournal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 1980
- Why Some Metazoan Mucus Secretions are More Susceptible to Microbial Attack than OthersThe American Naturalist, 1979
- Some observations on locomotory strategies and their metabolic effects in two species of freshwater gastropods, Ancylus fluviatilis Müll. and Planorbis contortus Linn.Oecologia, 1974
- Competition for Food Between the Intertidal Gastropods Acmaea Scabra and Acmaea DigitalisEcology, 1973
- Territorial Behavior of the Owl Limpet, Lottia GiganteaEcology, 1970
- Observations on the Homing Limpet, Acmaea scabra GouldThe American Midland Naturalist, 1940