Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-lrf7s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T21:25:15.006Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Food Ingestion in the Estuarine Turtle Malaclemys Terrapin: Comparison With The Marine Leatherback Turtle Dermochelys Coriacea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

V.L. Bels ,
J. Davenport  and
S. Renous
V.L. Bels
Affiliation:
Haute Ecole Provinciale du Hainaut Occidental et de Charleroi, and Centre Agronomique de Recherches Appliquees du Hainault (CARAH) rue Paul Pastur 11, B-7800 Ath, Belgium.
J. Davenport
Affiliation:
University Marine Biological Station, Millport, Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland, KA28 OEG
S. Renous
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Comparative Anatomy, National Museum of Natural History, rue Buffon 55, URA-1137, FA75005 Paris, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This study sheds light on the evolution of aquatic and terrestrial feeding modes in vertebrates, using two aquatic turtles as models. The estuarine aquatic diamondback turtle Malademys terrapin has a feeding mechanism that is similar to the basic feeding mechanism of terrestrial tetrapods (jaw gape cycles incorporate slow opening, fast opening, fast closing and slow closing phases). Strikes upon prey also involve neck extension and cycles of the forelimbs. Malademys terrapin modulate their feeding behaviour and jaw action in relation to the nature of the prey item. Mussels are approached by walking on the substratum, and limb cycles are of small amplitude during the strike. Crabs, whether encountered in mid-water or on the substratum, are approached by swimming, and the strikes partly produced by vigorous upstrokes of the forelimbs, that occur simultaneously with neck extension. Crabs are dangerous prey, and the turtles often strike with the gape already at maximum, minimizing the time needed to bite a limb or other part of the crab. The tongue is not involved in food capture, but has a major role in food manipulation and transport prior to swallowing. Although transport cycles are similar to ingestion cycles, ingestion and transport are easily separable in the species. Malademys terrapin exhibit great distension of the throat during the strike, but this does not appear to generate adequate suction to aid capture of hard-shelled prey; it is suggested that throat distension reduces pressures in front of the advancing snout, thus preventing pressure waves displacing or alerting prey. The pelagic marine turtle Dermodielys coriacea, which specializes in gelatinous prey, relies heavily on suction for ingestion, which overlaps considerably with transport.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 78 , Issue 3 , August 1998 , pp. 953 - 972
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bels, V.L., Chardon, M. & Kardong, K.V., 1994. Biomechanics of the hyolingual system in Squamata. In Advances in comparative and environmental physiology, vol. 18 (ed. V., Bels et al.), pp. 197–240. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Bels, V.L., Davenport, J. & Delheusy, V., 1997. Kinematic analysis of feeding behavior in the box turtle, Terrapene Carolina (L.), (Reptilia: Emydidae). Journal of Experimental Zoology 277, 198–212.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bels, V.L. & Renous, S., 1992. Kinematics of feeding in two marine turtles. In Proceedings of the sixth ordinary meeting of the Societas Europeas Herpetologicas (ed. Z., Korsos and I., Kiss), pp. 73–78. Budapest: Hungarian Natural History Museum Press.Google Scholar
Bels, V., Rimblot-Baly, F. & Lescure, J., 1988. Croissance et maintien en captivé de la tortue Luth Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761). Revue Francaise Aquariologie, 15, 59–64.Google Scholar
Bjorndal, K., 1997. Foraging ecology and nutrition of sea turtles. In The biology of sea turtles (ed. P.L., Lutz and J.A., Musick), pp. 199–232. Boco Raton: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Bleakney, J.S., 1969. Reports of marine turtles from New England and eastern Canada. Canadian Field-Naturalist, 19, 120–128.Google Scholar
Bramble, D. & Wake, D., 1985. Feeding mechanism in lower vertebrates. In Functional vertebrate morphology (ed. M., Hildebrand et al.), pp. 230–261. Harvard: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brongersma, L.D., 1969. Miscellaneous notes on turtles, IIB. Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlanse Akademie Van Wetenschnappen Series C, 72, 90–102.Google Scholar
Carr, A.F., 1952. Handbook of turtles. Ithaca, New York: Comstock Publishers Association.Google Scholar
Coker, R.E., 1906. The cultivation of the diamondback terrapin. Bulletin of the North Carolina Geological Survey, 14, 1–69.Google Scholar
Davenport, J., 1987. Locomotion in hatchling leatherback turtles. Dermochelys coriacea. Journal of Zoology, 212, 85–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, J. & Balazs, G.H., 1991. ‘Fiery bodies’ are pyrosomas an important part of the diet of leatherback turtles? British Herpetological Society Bulletin, 37, 33–38.Google Scholar
Davenport, J. & Clough, W., 1985. The use of limbscales or ‘pseudoclaws’ in food handling by young loggerhead turtles. Copeia, 1985, 786–788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, J., Munks, S. & Oxford, P.J., 1984. A comparison of swimming in marine and freshwater turtles. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 220, 447–475.Google Scholar
Davenport, J. & Ward, J.F., 1993. The effects of salinity and temperature on appetite in the diamondback terrapin Malademys terrapin (Larreille). Herpetological Journal, 3, 95–98.Google Scholar
Davenport, J., Spikes, M., Thornton, S.M. & Riley, B.O., 1992. Crab-eating in the diamondback terrapin Malademys terrapin (Larreille): dealing with dangerous prey. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 72, 835–848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ernst, C.H. & Barbour, R.W., 1989. Turtles of the world. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Ernst, C.H., Barbour, R.W. & Lovich, J.E., 1994. Turtles of the United States and Canada. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Hendrickson, J.R., 1980. The ecological strategies of sea turtles. American Zoologist, 20, 597–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurd, L.E., Smedes, G.W. & Dean, T.A., 1979. An ecological study of a natural population of diamondback terrapins (Malademys t. terrapin) in a Delaware salt marsh. Estuaries, 2, 28–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauder, G.V. & Liem, K.F., 1981. Prey capture by Luciocephalus pulcher: implications for models of jaw protrusion in teleost fishes. Environmental Biology of Fish, 6, 257–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauder, G.V. & Prendergast, T., 1992. Kinematics of prey capture in the snapping turtle Chelydra serpentina. Journal of Experimental Biology, 164, 55–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeuwen, J.L. Van & Muller, M., 1984. Optimum sucking techniques for predatory fish. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 37, 137–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liem, K.F., 1984. Functional versatility, speciation and niche overlap: are fishes different? In Trophic interactions within aquatic ecosystems (ed. D.G., Meyers and J.R., Strickler), pp. 269–305.:AAAS Selected Symposia.Google Scholar
Liem, K.F., 1990. Aquatic versus terrestrial feeding modes: possible impacts on the trophic ecology of vertebrates. American Zoologist, 30, 209–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pritchard, P.C.H., 1979. Encyclopaedia of turtles. Neptune, New Jersey: TFH Publications.Google Scholar
Reilly, S.M. & Lauder, G.V., 1989a. Kinetics of tongue projection in Ambystoma tigrinum – quantitative kinematics, muscle function, and evolutionary hypotheses. Journal of Morphology, 199, 223–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reilly, S.M. & Lauder, G.V., 1989b. Physiological bases of feeding-behavior in salamanders – do motor patterns vary with prey type? Journal of Experimental Biology, 141, 343–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reilly, S.M. & Lauder, G.V., 1990. The evolution of tetrapod feeding behavior: kinematic homologies in prey transport. Evolution, 44, 1542–1557.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Renous, S., 1995. The ontogeny of locomotion in marine turtles. In Scientia herpetologica (ed. G.A., Llorente et al.), pp. 112–119. Barcelona: University Press of Barcelona.Google Scholar
Renous, S. & Bels, V., 1993. Comparison between aquatic and terrestrial locomotions of the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). Journal of Zoology, 230, 357–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renous, S., Rimblot-Baly, F., Fretey, J. & Pieau, C., 1989. Caracteristiques du developpement embyonnaire de la tortue luth, Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761). Annales Sciences Naturelles, Zoologie, serie 13, 10, 197–229.Google Scholar
Wainwright, P. & Lauder, G., 1986. Feeding biology of sunfishes: patterns of variation in prey capture. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London, 88, 217–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisgram, J., 1985. Feeding mechanics of Claudius angustatus Cope 1865. Fortschritte der Zoologie, 30, 257–260.Google Scholar