Predatory Feeding in Three Co-occuring Mysids Crustacea, Mysidacea Functional Responses to Different Prey Types

Abstract

The functional responses of three co-existing nearshore mysid shrimps were analyzed using two branchiopodan and one copepodan prey types. Paramesopodopsis rufa was the most efficient predator of the euryhaline daphnid prey, Daphniopsis australis. It showed a steeper linear functional response curve for this prey than the other two species, Tenagomysis tasmaniae and Anisomysis mixta australis, which showed similar flat linear curves. All three species exhibited similar predation success on Artemia sp. naupli, and similar predation failure for the calanoid copepod Gladioferens pectinatus. The study provides evidence that differences in predatory feeding behaviour support feeding niche segregation which in turn explains the co-occurrence of the three mysid species.