[Annelida] Cannibalism

[Sally Woodin]

early papers on nereid behavior documented aggressive interactions which 
sometimes were followed by cannibalism of smaller individuals by larger 
ones. Numerous investigators make passing mention of this behavior. 
Several such older articles are:

Reish, DA, and MC Alosi. 1968. Aggressive behavior in the polychaetous 
annelid family Nereidae. Bull So Calif Acad Sci 67(1):21-28

Roe, P. 1975. Aspects of life history and of territorial behavior in young 
individuals of Platynereis bicanaliculata and Nereis vexillosa (Annelida, 
Polychaeta). Pacific Science 29: 341-348

Sally Woodin

On Tue, 18 Nov 2008, Geoff Read wrote:

> Patricia,
>
> As you probably know adelphophagia ('brother eating') is the term for
> the egg cannibalism common in Spionidae, especially within egg capsules
> of Polydora and relatives, but other than that I can't see much comment
> on the topic. It is also reported for nereidid larvae.  There is quite a
> lot of literature on adelphophagia.
>
> Marty, R.; Brenot, S.; Retiere, C.; Desrosiers, G. (1997). Premier cas
> d'adelphophagie etudie chez les nereides (Annelides, Polychetes):
> signification ecologique de ce comportement developpe par le Nereis
> diversicolor (O. F. Muller). Canadian Journal of Zoology/Revue Canadien
> de Zoologie 75(10): 1575-1584.
>
> Regarding other cannibalism, observed rather than inferred, this cite
> is abstract only and refers to Ophiodromus pugettensis.
> Vuturo, S.A.; Shuster, S.M. (2001). Sex change and cannibalism in Gulf
> of California populations of a commensal polychaete. American Zoologist
> 41(6): 1616.
>
> Geoff Read
>
>>>> On 18/11/2008 at 7:13 a.m., "Patricia Lattig" <plattig from gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> Dear colleagues,
>>
>> I would like to know if anyone has information about cannibalism in
>> Polychaetes, or have studied a specific case of it.
>> I will appreciate any help.
>>
>> Best Wishes
>>
>> Patricia
>>
>> ------------
>>
>> Patricia Lattig
>> PhD Candidate
>> Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
>> Ed. Biología (Zoología).
>> Madrid-Spain
>> patricia.lattig from uam.es
>> plattig from ceab.csic.es
>
>
> NIWA is the trading name of the National Institute of Water &
> Atmospheric Research Ltd.
>
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Sarah Ann Woodin
Carolina Distinguished Professor
Dept Biological Sciences
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
USA

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