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Mesacanthion Diplechma (Nematoda: Thoracostomopsidae), a Link to Higher Trophic Levels?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Olivier Hamerlynck  and
Ann Vanreusel
Olivier Hamerlynck
Affiliation:
Marine Biology Section, Zoology Institute, University of Gent, Ledeganckstraat 35, B 9000 Gent, Belgium and Centre for Estuarine and Coastal Ecology, Vierstraat 28, NL 4401 EA Yerseke, The Netherlands
Ann Vanreusel
Affiliation:
Marine Biology Section, Zoology Institute, University of Gent, Ledeganckstraat 35, B 9000 Gent, Belgium and Centre for Estuarine and Coastal Ecology, Vierstraat 28, NL 4401 EA Yerseke, The Netherlands
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Extract

The nematode Mesacanthion diplechma Southern is relatively rare in sediments of the Southern Bight of the North Sea and the Dutch Delta. Strangely, it is about the only free-living nematode found in the stomachs of the sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus Pallas from the same general area and even more peculiarly several hundred animals were found in sand gobies from the central part of the Oosterschelde. The large size of the nematode and its preference for the superficial sediment layers are probable causes for the first observation. For the second observation there is at present no explanation that can be substantiated. Some nematodes are known to aggregate on dead animals and possibly the Oosterschelde gobies may have been feeding on such an aggregation.

Type
Short Communications
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , May 1993 , pp. 453 - 456
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1993

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