Feeding By Oyster Larvae: The Functional Response, Energy Budget and A Comparison With Mussel Larvae

Abstract

Whereas there is a wealth of literature on the feeding of herbivorous holo-plankton, notably copepods, feeding by herbivorous larvae of benthic animals has been somewhat neglected. This paper considers the functional feeding response of veliger larvae of Ostrea edulis L., Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg) and Mytilus edulis L. fed on several micro-algal species. It also provides some data on the influence of temperature on feeding, and assesses the energy needs of the larvae in relation to their potential ingestion rate and to the availability in the sea of micro-organisms on which they feed.