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Science 24 August 1984:
Vol. 225. no. 4664, pp. 843 - 844
DOI: 10.1126/science.225.4664.843
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Articles

Stimulation of Food Species Growth by Limpet Mucus

VALERIE M. CONNOR 1 and JAMES F. QUINN 2

1 Department of Zoology, University of California, Davis 95616, and Bodega Marine Laboratory, Bodega Bay, California 94923
2 Division of Environmental Studies and Department of Zoology, University of California, Davis

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.

Submitted on December 5, 1983
Accepted on June 8, 1984


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Previous agonistic experience determines both foraging behavior and territoriality in the limpet Lottia gigantea (Sowerby).
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Behav. Ecol. 13, 467-471
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