Selectivity of Perinereis aibuhitensis (Polychaeta, Nereididae) feeding on sediment

ABSTRACT

Deposit feeding polychaetes play an important role in the acceleration of the biogeochemical processes of the sediment through bioturbation. Feeding is one of the important factors of bioturbation. However, knowledge of the feeding biology of polychaetes, especially the subsurface deposit feeder, is limited. The objective of this study is to characterize the feeding selection of Perinereis aibuhitensis with different body weights. The animals were fed with natural sediment from their original habitat in the lab. The feed intake and particle size of sediment were measured to find any evidence of feeding selection. A two-way ANOVA showed that the particle size class significantly affected the particle size frequency of the ingested and the remaining sediment (P < 0.05), but the polychaete size class did not (P > 0.05). Bivariate correlation analysis showed that the particle size frequency of sediment, ingested and remaining sediment in different size classes were linearly related (P < 0.05). The nitrogen and organic carbon contents were reduced in the faeces and remaining sediment (P < 0.05). The nitrogen and organic carbon contents were similar in faeces and the remaining sediment among all polychaete size classes (P < 0.05). The results indicated that P. aibuhitensis preferred smaller particles in the sediment, which was limited by the particle size distribution of the sediment in which they live. The nitrogen and organic carbon contents in the faeces might be the thresholds when P. aibuhitensis selects sediment particles as food. These results demonstrated the particle selectivity of P. aibuhitensis, and may be applicable to other subsurface deposit feeding polychaetes.

SUBJECT EDITOR:

• Alf Josefson

KEYWORDS:

• Polychaete
• feeding
• selectivity
• sediment

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Rosa Helena Escobar for all her help.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by financially supported by the Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, China [grant number 2016LMFS-A18]; the Primary Research and Development Plan of Shandong Province [grant number 2016GSF115027]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 31302193 and 41676147]; and the Key Program for International S&T Cooperation Projects of China [grant number 2016YFE0112600].