THE EFFECTS OF THE DEPOSIT FEEDING POLYCHAETE <i>PECTINARIA GOULDII</i> ON THE INTERTIDAL SEDIMENTS OF BARNSTABLE HARBOR1

Abstract

Under laboratory conditions, individual Pectinaria gouldii worked 6 g of sediment/day. This rate was related directly to sediment temperature and inversely to sediment pigment concentration. At this rate, corrected for the effects of daily tidal exposure and annual temperature fluctuations, the worm population in the flat studied (10 worms/m 2 ) would completely work all sediment in the 6‐cm thick surface layer every 15 years. The observed activity of other deposit feeders would substantially reduce this time. P. gouldii removed 3.55 units of sediment pigment (42%) and 1.43 mg of organic carbon (45%) from each gram of sediment worked, suggesting a rapid utilization of the available organic matter.