Ecology Summary - Pycnogonum litorale

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Ecology of Pycnogonum litorale

Main Ref.	Bisby, F.A., M.A. Ruggiero, K.L. Wilson, M. Cachuela-Palacio, S.W. Kimani, Y.R. Roskov, A. Soulier-Perkins and J. van Hertum, 2005
Remarks	Epibenthic (Ref. 87524). Littoral (Ref. 1797) from coastal to slope (Ref. 19). Feeding on hosts, i.e., sea cucumbers, tunicates and hydroids and hard corals (Refs. 229, 233, 234) by inserting proboscis into tissues of the host (Refs. 233 and 229). Free-living (Ref. 3123). Prefers anemones Calliactis sp. and Adamsia sp. over Actinia sp. and Tealia sp. as its host. Reported one case where it fed on the holothurian Cucumaria frondosa (Ref. 121217).

Main Ref.

Bisby, F.A., M.A. Ruggiero, K.L. Wilson, M. Cachuela-Palacio, S.W. Kimani, Y.R. Roskov, A. Soulier-Perkins and J. van Hertum, 2005

Remarks

Epibenthic (Ref. 87524). Littoral (Ref. 1797) from coastal to slope (Ref. 19). Feeding on hosts, i.e., sea cucumbers, tunicates and hydroids and hard corals (Refs. 229, 233, 234) by inserting proboscis into tissues of the host (Refs. 233 and 229). Free-living (Ref. 3123). Prefers anemones Calliactis sp. and Adamsia sp. over Actinia sp. and Tealia sp. as its host. Reported one case where it fed on the holothurian Cucumaria frondosa (Ref. 121217).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Pycnogonum litorale may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Benthic: mobile;
Substrate Ref.	Ellis, J.R., G. Burt and S.I. Rogers, 2007
Special habitats
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Bisby, F.A., M.A. Ruggiero, K.L. Wilson, M. Cachuela-Palacio, S.W. Kimani, Y.R. Roskov, A. Soulier-Perkins and J. van Hertum, 2005
Associations
Associated with	Association with other animals: Clava multicornis, Actinia, Tealia, Metridium,and Alcyonarium digitatum (Ref. 213); polyzoan Flustra foliacea
Association remarks
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	plants/detritus+animals (troph. 2.2-2.79)
Feeding type Ref.	Bouvier, F., 1923
Feeding habit	feeding on a host (parasite)
Feeding habit Ref.	Bouvier, F., 1923

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition
From individual food items	4.06	0.12			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.

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