Selective consumption of sacoglossan sea slugs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) by scleractinian corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa)
@article{Mehrotra2019SelectiveCO, title={Selective consumption of sacoglossan sea slugs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) by scleractinian corals (Cnidaria: Anthozoa)}, author={Rahul Mehrotra and Coline Monchanin and Chad M. Scott and Niphon Phongsuwan and Manuel Caballer Gutierrez and Suchana Chavanich and Bert W. Hoeksema}, journal={PLoS ONE}, year={2019}, volume={14} }
Recent studies revealed that reef corals can eat large-sized pelagic and benthic animals in addition to small planktonic prey. As follow-up, we document natural ingestion of sea slugs by corals and investigate the role of sacoglossan sea slugs as possible prey items of scleractinian corals. Feeding trials were carried out using six sacoglossan species as prey, two each from the genera Costasiella, Elysia and Plakobranchus, and four free-living solitary corals (Danafungia scruposa, Fungia…
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