University of A Coruña

About: University of A Coruña is a education organization based out in A Coruña, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Artificial neural network. The organization has 4661 authors who have published 9399 publications receiving 171951 citations. The organization is also known as: University of La Coruna & University of La Coruña.

Feeding of the spider crab Maja squinado in rocky subtidal areas of the Ría de Arousa (north-west Spain)

Abstract: The diet of the spider crab, Maja squinado, was studied in the rocky subtidal areas of the R|¤a de Arousa (Galicia, north-west Spain), by analysing the gut contents of crabs caught in the summer and winter of 1992. The highly diverse diet was made up primarily of macroalgae and benthic invertebrates that were either sessile or had little mobility.The most important prey were the seaweeds Laminariaceae (43% of the frequency of occurrence and15% of the food dry weight), Corallina spp. (38% and 3%), molluscs [the chiton Acanthochitona crinitus (15% and1%), the gastropods Bittium sp. (30% and 2%),Trochiidae and others andthe bivalve Mytilus sp. (32% and12%)], echinoderms [the holothurian Aslialefevrei (32% and18%) andthe echinoid Paracentrotus lividus (16% and 7%)] and solitary ascidians (18% and 6%). The variability in diet composition was determined by the season (Laminariaceae, Corallina spp., P. lividus, Mytilus sp., gastropods and chitons appeared in greater frequency in winter, while the solitary ascidians and A. lefevrei were consumedto a greaterextent in summer) inadditionto sexual maturity (prey such as Bittium sp. orTrochiidae were more common in juveniles). Moreover, the changes in the food consumption rate were linked primarily to the moult stage. Feeding activity plummeted during the phases immediately preceding and following ecdysis (stages D0^D3^4 and A), andthe diet was less diverse during these phases. No feeding diierences were found that could be linked to sex.The composition of the diet of Maja squinado appears to be determined by the seasonal abundance of the diierent prey in subtidal rocky areas and by their availability (depending on their behavioural and anatomical characteristics, mainly mobility and the presence of hard external structures). Moreover, life history factors have little importance in the variability of the diet composition and only the moultcyclehas a considerable eiecton feeding rate.