Feeding ecology and niche segregation of the spider crab Libinia ferreirae (Decapoda, Brachyura, Majoidea), a symbiont of Lychnorhiza lucerna (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa, Rhizostomeae)

• Published in: Hydrobiologia Vol. 847; no. 4; pp. 1013 - 1025
• Main Authors: Gonçalves, Geslaine Rafaela Lemos, Negreiros-Fransozo, Maria Lucia, Fransozo, Adilson, Castilho, Antonio Leão
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-02-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic crustaceans; Benthos; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carapace; Cnidaria; Crabs; Crustaceans; Decapoda; Diet; Ecological monitoring; Ecology; Epibionts; Feeding; Food; Food chains; Food contamination; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Libinia ferreirae; Life cycle; Life cycles; Life Sciences; Lychnorhiza lucerna; Marine crustaceans; Marine invertebrates; Microplastics; Niche overlap; Niches; Primary Research Paper; Segregation; Shellfish; Stomach content; Symbionts; Zoology; Frequency of occurrence; Host; Percentage points; Association; Microplastic
• ISSN: 0018-8158; 1573-5117
• DOI: 10.1007/s10750-019-04158-0

Feeding strategies provide essential information to help understand symbiotic relationships and resource competition as well as environmental integrity. This study examined the feeding ecology of the spider crab
Libinia ferreirae
, which is commonly associated with the jellyfish
Lychnorhiza lucerna
during part of its life cycle, especially the juvenile stage. In the adult phase, the crab is a host for many epibionts that live on its carapace. The crabs were collected in 1 year, and the stomach contents were analyzed by the percentage points and the frequency of occurrence of the food items. We identified ten food items (food in the advanced stage of digestion was unidentifiable) and microplastic particles in the gastric contents of the crabs. The food items with high abundances were sediment, crustaceans, and cnidarians. We found niche partitioning of the spider crab’s diet during the benthic (free-living) and planktonic (
L. lucerna
association) phases. The fact that microplastic is part of the diet of
L. ferreirae
is concerning and shows how environmental contamination with plastic material has been incorporated into the marine food chain as a whole.