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Anatomical and experimental evidence for particulate feeding in Lucinoma aequizonata and Parvilucina tenuisculpta (Bivalvia: Lucinidae) from the Santa Barbara Basin

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Abstract

Previous nutritional models for adults of the lucinid bivalve Lucinoma aequizonata contend that symbiotic chemoautotrophic bacteria provide most of the organic carbon for the host. The existence of this symbiosis, coupled with the host’s distinctive anatomical features, shaped the impression that particulate feeding was not a significant part of L. aequizonata nutrition. Here, we use several techniques to show that particulate feeding is a consistent and important part of the L. aequizonata nutritional strategy. Histological and scanning electron microscopy observations reveal that the gills of L. aequizonata, like those of the lucinid Parvilucina tenuisculpta, have functional mucociliary epithelia, able to transport captured particles to the mouth. Observations of gut content and radiolabeled feeding experiments indicate that L. aequizonata does ingest and assimilate carbon from particulate organic matter. Furthermore, molecular identification of a broad spectrum of organisms in the guts of native adult specimens demonstrates that L. aequizonata is non-selective when ingesting organic material, and has a mixotrophic diet.

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Acknowledgements

We thank J. Robidart, V. Bowden, and F. Malfatti for help aboard the R.V. “Sproul”, as well as C. Johnson for providing the Dunaliella tertiolecta culture. P.V. Scott helped with bivalve identifications. M. Craig helped with the phylogenetic analysis of gut sequences. R. Chastain, D. Woodruff, B. Brahamsha, and R. Burton all provided suggestions regarding technical aspects of the molecular diet analysis. Special thanks to the captain and crew of the R.V. “Robert Gordon Sproul”. Funding for this research was provided by NSF grants OCE 99-07651 to A.A.Y., OCE 99-07810 to H.F. and J. Stein, a University of California President Dissertation Fellowship and E.W. Scripps Fellowship to M.R.D., an NSERC postgraduate scholarship and a Baxter and Alma Ricard Foundation Fellowship to S.C.D. The experiments comply with the current laws in the USA.

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  1. M. R. Duplessis

    Present address: Department of Biology, Box 355325, Seattle, WA 98195, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0202, USA

    M. R. Duplessis, S. C. Dufour, L. E. Blankenship, H. Felbeck & A. A. Yayanos

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  1. M. R. Duplessis
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  3. L. E. Blankenship
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Correspondence to M. R. Duplessis.

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Communicated by P.W. Sammarco, Chauvin

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Duplessis, M.R., Dufour, S.C., Blankenship, L.E. et al. Anatomical and experimental evidence for particulate feeding in Lucinoma aequizonata and Parvilucina tenuisculpta (Bivalvia: Lucinidae) from the Santa Barbara Basin. Marine Biology 145, 551–561 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1350-6

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