Predator–prey interactions between a population of Nucella lapillus (Gastropoda: Muricidae) recovering from imposex and Mytilus galloprovincialis (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) on the south-east coast of England

• Published in: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
• Main Author: Morton, Brian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2009
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Dogwhelk; Nucella lapillus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315409991275; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315409991275

Over a 52-month period beginning in May 2004 and concluding in August/September 2008, and coinciding with the period over which tributyltin was banned as a ship anti-foulant globally, a population of the dogwhelk, Nucella lapillus on the south-eastern coast of England, was studied for changes in population size and structure, reproduction and feeding behaviour. During the study period, the size of the N. lapillus population grew from ~25 individuals to >500, i.e. a 20-fold increase, and recovery from imposex was total. Significant changes in feeding behaviour were also reported. For example, peaks in N. lapillus predation were recorded over the winter months, but as population size increased, this temporal seasonality was masked due to the growing numbers of juveniles feeding on smaller and smaller individuals of Mytilus galloprovincialis (as opposed to barnacles) as the study progressed. Similarly, with freedom from imposex, the numbers of failed drilling attempts declined and numbers of prey with more than one drill hole increased as the incidence of kleptoparasitism increased. Predated M. galloprovincialis were also increasingly attacked in the antero- and postero-dorsal quadrants of their shells as the study progressed. Contrary to expectations, only a slightly positive relationship between predator and prey sizes was recorded overall however, suggesting that beyond a shell height of ~13 mm, when the transition from barnacle to mussel feeding occurs, M. galloprovincialis individuals of virtually any size are preyed upon by N. lapillus .