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Science 22 January 1988:
Vol. 239. no. 4838, pp. 393 - 395
DOI: 10.1126/science.239.4838.393
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Articles

Spongivory in Hawksbill Turtles: A Diet of Glass

ANNE MEYLAN 1

1 Department of Herpetology and Ichthyology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024.

The hawksbill(Eretmochelys imbricata), an endangered marine turtle associated with coral reefs throughout the tropics, feeds almost exclusively on sponges in the Caribbean, and possibly throughout its range. It is one of fewer than a dozen vertebrates that are known to specialize on this widely distributed but well-defended food resource. The diet is taxonomically narrow and highly uniform geographically, includes sponges that are toxic to other vertebrates, and contains more silica than that of other vertebrates. By affecting space competition, spongivory by hawksbills may influence succession and diversity of reef communities.

Submitted on July 13, 1987
Accepted on December 8, 1987


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Is There a Trade-Off Between Wound-Healing and Chemical Defenses Among Caribbean Reef Sponges?.
K. D. Walters and J. R. Pawlik (2005)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 45, 352-358
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)