Prey Selectivity in Juvenile Red King Crabs from the Coastal Barents Sea
The invasive red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus, has become an abundant and important component in the food web of the coastal Barents Sea and can affect the structure and functioning of the local benthic communities through competition and predation. Although dietary composition and feeding...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/1424-2818/14/7/568/ 2023-08-20T04:05:30+02:00 Prey Selectivity in Juvenile Red King Crabs from the Coastal Barents Sea Lyudmila V. Pavlova Alexander G. Dvoretsky agris 2022-07-16 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/d14070568 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Marine Diversity https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d14070568 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Diversity; Volume 14; Issue 7; Pages: 568 red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus dietary composition benthos feeding selectivity Kola Bay Barents Sea Text 2022 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/d14070568 2023-08-01T05:43:49Z The invasive red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus, has become an abundant and important component in the food web of the coastal Barents Sea and can affect the structure and functioning of the local benthic communities through competition and predation. Although dietary composition and feeding behavior of the crab have been intensively studied, prey selectivity in this species under natural conditions remains poorly defined. For this reason, juvenile red king crabs and benthic samples were collected simultaneously at five coastal sites in Kola Bay to reveal the species composition and structure of feeding habits and the diet of red king crabs. The results of stomach and gut content analyses coupled with calculated Ivlev’s indices indicated that 2–5-year-old crabs frequently consumed bivalve mollusks in relative proportions to prey field biomasses. At all sites, juveniles selectively rejected polychaetes. In soft-bottom communities, when the average density of Bivalvia decreased, the crabs showed increased preference for Gastropoda, Crustacea, and Echinodermata. As a result of selective feeding focused on infaunal suspension-feeding mollusks, juvenile red king crabs have altered the structure of benthic communities in the mouth of Kola Bay. Our results may have important implications for evaluating the consequences of the crab introduction and its population management. Text Barents Sea Kola Bay Paralithodes camtschaticus Red king crab MDPI Open Access Publishing Barents Sea Diversity 14 7 568 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus dietary composition benthos feeding selectivity Kola Bay Barents Sea |
spellingShingle |
red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus dietary composition benthos feeding selectivity Kola Bay Barents Sea Lyudmila V. Pavlova Alexander G. Dvoretsky Prey Selectivity in Juvenile Red King Crabs from the Coastal Barents Sea |
topic_facet |
red king crab Paralithodes camtschaticus dietary composition benthos feeding selectivity Kola Bay Barents Sea |
description |
The invasive red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus, has become an abundant and important component in the food web of the coastal Barents Sea and can affect the structure and functioning of the local benthic communities through competition and predation. Although dietary composition and feeding behavior of the crab have been intensively studied, prey selectivity in this species under natural conditions remains poorly defined. For this reason, juvenile red king crabs and benthic samples were collected simultaneously at five coastal sites in Kola Bay to reveal the species composition and structure of feeding habits and the diet of red king crabs. The results of stomach and gut content analyses coupled with calculated Ivlev’s indices indicated that 2–5-year-old crabs frequently consumed bivalve mollusks in relative proportions to prey field biomasses. At all sites, juveniles selectively rejected polychaetes. In soft-bottom communities, when the average density of Bivalvia decreased, the crabs showed increased preference for Gastropoda, Crustacea, and Echinodermata. As a result of selective feeding focused on infaunal suspension-feeding mollusks, juvenile red king crabs have altered the structure of benthic communities in the mouth of Kola Bay. Our results may have important implications for evaluating the consequences of the crab introduction and its population management. |
format |
Text |
author |
Lyudmila V. Pavlova Alexander G. Dvoretsky |
author_facet |
Lyudmila V. Pavlova Alexander G. Dvoretsky |
author_sort |
Lyudmila V. Pavlova |
title |
Prey Selectivity in Juvenile Red King Crabs from the Coastal Barents Sea |
title_short |
Prey Selectivity in Juvenile Red King Crabs from the Coastal Barents Sea |
title_full |
Prey Selectivity in Juvenile Red King Crabs from the Coastal Barents Sea |
title_fullStr |
Prey Selectivity in Juvenile Red King Crabs from the Coastal Barents Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prey Selectivity in Juvenile Red King Crabs from the Coastal Barents Sea |
title_sort |
prey selectivity in juvenile red king crabs from the coastal barents sea |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/d14070568 |
op_coverage |
agris |
geographic |
Barents Sea |
geographic_facet |
Barents Sea |
genre |
Barents Sea Kola Bay Paralithodes camtschaticus Red king crab |
genre_facet |
Barents Sea Kola Bay Paralithodes camtschaticus Red king crab |
op_source |
Diversity; Volume 14; Issue 7; Pages: 568 |
op_relation |
Marine Diversity https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/d14070568 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/d14070568 |
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Diversity |
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14 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
568 |
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