Meeting Abstract
Larvae of the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) demonstrate control over swimming velocity and directionality. Larvae have been shown to alter their swimming patterns in response to environmental cues such as light, turbulence, sound, and chemical cues. Larval behaviors in the water column affect the survival of individuals and the maintenance of populations. Therefore, an understanding of larval swimming is informative for population dynamics, as well as aquaculture operations and oyster reef restoration. Helical swimming is a commonly observed behavior in C. virginica larvae. It has been proposed that swimming along a sinusoidal path may serve as an antipredator, exploratory, or feeding behavior. In other planktonic species, swimming slowly in circular paths increases feeding efficiency by allowing plankton to maximize time spent in food patches. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that helical swimming is an active feeding behavior in C. virginica larvae. We recorded and analyzed swimming behavior of starved and fed larvae, exposed to different food concentrations, in a controlled laboratory setting. We compared swimming velocities and the number and geometry of helices across treatments to discern the influence of satiation and food availability on swimming behavior.
