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Life history traits and ecological conditions influencing the symbiotic relationship between the flatworm Stylochoplana pusilla and host snail Monodonta labio

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2015

Yuta Fujiwara ,
Tomoya Iwata ,
Jotaro Urabe  and
Satoshi Takeda
Yuta Fujiwara*
Affiliation:
Research Center for Marine Biology, Graduate School of Life Science, Tohoku University, Asamushi, Aomori 039-3501, Japan
Tomoya Iwata
Affiliation:
Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, Yamanashi University, Kofu 400-8510, Japan
Jotaro Urabe
Affiliation:
Research Center for Marine Biology, Graduate School of Life Science, Tohoku University, Asamushi, Aomori 039-3501, Japan Graduate School of Life Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
Satoshi Takeda
Affiliation:
Research Center for Marine Biology, Graduate School of Life Science, Tohoku University, Asamushi, Aomori 039-3501, Japan
*
Correspondence should be addressed to:Y. Fujiwara, Research Center for Marine Biology, Graduate School of Life Science, Tohoku University, Asamushi, Aomori 039-3501, Japan email: hitsuji0325@hotmail.co.jp
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Abstract

Clarification of the life-history traits of a symbiont and its host is necessary to evaluate the relationship between them. Stylochoplana pusilla, a polyclad, inhabits the mantle cavity of the eulittoral snail Monodonta labio. This study elucidated the life-history traits of S. pusilla relative to those of M. labio in a tide pool, which retained seawater, and a boulder shore, which was dry at low tide, in Mutsu Bay, northern Japan, from 2010 to 2012. In these habitats, S. pusilla was semelparous with a 1-year life cycle; it reproduced in midsummer and inhabited the shell of M. labio except for the early juvenile stages, which were planktonic. More juvenile S. pusilla newly settled on hosts in the tide pool than on the boulder shore, however, their survival rate was higher on the boulder shore compared with the tide pool. The growth rate of juvenile S. pusilla was higher in the tide pool than on the boulder shore. The higher growth rate of S. pusilla at the tide pool suggested that they were more actively feeding. Stable isotope analysis showed that S. pusilla acquired food resources outside the host snail both in the tide pool and on the boulder shore. Thus, it was likely that S. pusilla engaged in feeding outside the host snails but resulted in lower survival rates at the tide pool. These results suggest that S. pusilla is semi-free living and uses M. labio as a refuge in the eulittoral zone for protection against desiccation.

Keywords

eulittoralflatwormlife historyMonodonta labioPolycladStylochoplana pusillasymbiosis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 96 , Issue 3 , May 2016 , pp. 667 - 672
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

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