Wanted: Alive and not dead: Functioning diatom status is a quality cue for the suspension-feeder Crassostrea gigas

Abstract

Understanding the quality cues which govern the grazing of phytoplankton by suspension feeders is essential to understanding seston dynamics and benthic-pelagic coupling. We studied the effect of functioning cellular status on selection of two common coastal diatoms, Coscinodiscus perforatus var. pavillardii and Actinoptychus senarius, grazed upon by the commercially farmed oyster, Crassostrea gigas Thunberg. Two contexts were investigated, corresponding to those naturally encountered by oysters and their prey: (i) diatoms (C. perforatus var. pavillardii) larger than the size allowing selection on the gill (hence subject to selection on the labial palps only) and (ii) diatoms (A. senarius) within the size range allowing selection on the gill (hence subject to selection on both the gills and labial palps). Both intact and naturally dead cells possessed a perifrustular envelope, but the naturally dead cells lacked intracellular organic content. Oysters were able to discriminate between intact and naturally dead (empty) cells, both in the absence of prior selection on the gill and subsequent to prior selection on the gill. In contrast to previous findings in scallops, functioning cellular status is thus an important determinant of diatom selection and ingestion by oysters. This fine degree of discrimination may have evolved as an adaptation to the high turbidity, low food-quality estuarine environment typically colonized by oysters. The reduced organic content of rejected diatom cells in oyster pseudofaeces may affect the organic content of biodeposits, and subsequently the dynamics of nutrient release to the water column during mixing and resuspension. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.