Predation, physical disturbance, and sublethal arm damage in ophiuroids: a Jurassic-Recent comparison

Abstract

The proportion of ophiuroids with sublethal arm damage (regenerating arms) was censused in a lagoonal population of Ophioderma brevispinum in back-reef populations of O. appressum at Belize and Jamaica. The Jamaican population was sampled in sheltered and wave-exposed areas. Frequency of injuries within populations did not differ significantly, nor did the two O. appressum populations show consistent differences. Arm injuries were more common in the living populations (30-74% injured) than in a Lower Jurassic population composed of two ophiodermatid species (0% injured) from a similar warm-water habitat. Predation is the primary source of arm injuries in living Ophioderma spp. This study supports the hypothesis that predation on ophiuroids increased with durophagous teleostean fishes and decapod crustaceans diversified in the late Mesozoic. -from Author