Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-r7xzm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T18:13:49.319Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Comparative Study of Some Features of the Biology of Amphiura Filiformis and Amphiura Chiajei [Ophiuroidea] Considered in Relation to their Distribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

John B. Buchanan
Affiliation:
Dove Marine Laboratory, University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Summary

By comparing the two species of Amphiura in controlled, directional bottom current flows, clear differences of behaviour can be demonstrated. These differences have been shown to be associated with two quite distinct feeding methods. Amphiura filiformis holds the arms up into the current flow with a rheotactic response to current direction and feeds by trapping both non-living particulate suspended matter and phytoplankton. Amphiura chiajei does not show this response and feeds exclusively on deposited matter on the sediment surface. Both species have modifications of the podia associated with the different methods of feeding. Estimates of growth rate, longevity and oxygen uptake suggest that Amphiura filiformis is a rapidly growing species with a high metabolic rate and food requirement, whereas Amphiura chiajei is slow growing and long-lived with a low metabolic rate. The environmental requirements of the two species are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1964

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blegvad, H., 1914. Food and conditions of nourishment among the communities of invertebrate animals found on or in the sea bottom in Danish water. Rep. Danish biol. Sta., Vol. 22, pp. 4178.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J. B., 1962. A re-examination of the glandular elements in tube feet of some common British ophiuroids. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., Vol. 138, pp. 645–50.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J. B., 1963 a. The bottom fauna communities and their sediment relationships off the coast of Northumberland. Oikos, Vol. 14, pp. 154–75.Google Scholar
Buchanan, J. B., 1963 b. Mucus secretion within the spines of ophiuroid echinoderms Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., Vol. 141, pp. 251–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, J. B. & Woodley, J. D., 1963. Extension and retraction of the tube feet of ophiuroids. Nature, Lond., Vol. 197, pp. 616–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Des Arts, L., 1910. Ueber die Lebensweise von Amphiura chiajei unter Berücksichtigung der anatomischen Verhältnisse. Bergens Mus. Aarb., No. 12, 10 pp.Google Scholar
Eichelbaum, E., 1909. Über Nahrung und Ernährungsorgane von Echinodermen. Wiss. Meeresuntersuch, Abt. Kiel, Bd. 11, p. 189.Google Scholar
Hunt, O. D., 1925. The food of bottom fauna of the Plymouth fishing grounds. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 13, pp. 560–99.Google Scholar
Petersen, C. G. J., 1913. Valuation of the sea, II. The animal communities of the sea bottom and their importance for marine zoogeography. Rep. Danish biol. Sta., Vol. 21, pp. 142.Google Scholar
Thorson, G., 1957. Bottom communities—treatise on marine ecology and paleocology. Mem. geol. Soc. Amer., Vol. 67, pp. 461534.Google Scholar
Thorson, G., 1958. Parallel level-bottom communities, their temperature adaptation, and their ‘balance’ between predators and food animals. Perspectives in Marine Biology, pp. 6786. California.Google Scholar
Ursin, E., 1960. A quantitative investigation of the echinoderm fauna of the North Sea. Medd. Komm. Havundersøg. Kbh., N.S., Bd. 2, pp. 1204.Google Scholar
Wintzell, J., 1918. Bidrag till de skandinaviska Ophiuridernas biologi och fysiologi. Dissertation. 148 pp. Uppsala.Google Scholar