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The risk of being at the top: foot-cropping in the New Zealand cockle Austrovenus stutchburyi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2003

Kim N. Mouritsen  and
Robert Poulin
Kim N. Mouritsen
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
Robert Poulin
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand
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Abstract

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The common phenomenon of sublethal predation in soft-bottom bivalves usually involves nipping of siphons. Here we show that foot cropping, hitherto documented only in Donax spp., is widespread in the New Zealand cockle Austrovenus stutchburyi (Veneridae). Depending on the locality, cropping frequency ranged between 14 and 34% of cockles, and the average proportion of the foot area cropped ranged between nine and 21%. Estimates of biomass lost to croppers at the time of sampling varied between 235 and 2040 mg ww m−2. It is emphasized that foot cropping in Austrovenus is likely to affect the population dynamics of the cockles.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 83 , Issue 3 , June 2003 , pp. 497 - 498
Copyright
2003 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom