| Summary: | The burrowing shrimp Upogebia pugettensis is an abundant inhabitant of Pacific Northwest bays and estuaries where it lives commensally with the clam Cryptomya californica. Suspension-feeding activities of the shrimp and its commensal clam, as well as particle settlement within the burrow, represent three potential causes of phytoplankton reduction within shrimp habitats. These three components together comprise what we call the "shrimp-burrow complex". Laboratory measurements of particle filtration rates indicated that shrimp were responsible for filtering the majority of phytoplankton removed by the shrimp-burrow complex; however, particle settlement in burrows and adhesion to burrow walls could also be responsible for removal of significant proportions of phytoplankton. Particle filtration efficiencies of shrimp+burrows and clams were similar to those of Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, for particles 2 to 10 microns in diameter, indicating a potential for food competition among these species under food-limiting conditions. A population filtration model, based on field measurements of shrimp filtration rates together with data on phytoplankton concentrations and shrimp populations in the Yaquina estuary, Oregon, predicted that shrimp-burrow complexes in this estuary were capable of filtering the entire body of overlying water between one and two times daily.
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