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HYDROBIA ULVAE: A DEPOSIT-FEEDER FOR CLEANING LIVING HARD-SHELLED FORAMINIFERA

¹ CRELA, UMR 6217, Université de La Rochelle, Pôle Sciences, AV. Michel Crépeau, 17042 La Rochelle Cedex, France
² Département de Géologie, Université d’Angers, UPRES EA 2644, 2 Bd Lavoisier, 49045 Angers Cedex, France

^* E-mail: cdupuy{at}univ-lr.fr

This study proposes a new method for fast and inexpensive extraction of a large number of living foraminifera for laboratory cultures. The method is a significant improvement over current extraction methods, which are highly time-consuming. Several treatments were designed to test the method. Sediment bearing foraminifera from Brouage Mudflat (Atlantic coast of France) was washed through a 50-µm sieve and distributed in glass Petri dishes with 20, 40 and 80 specimens of Hydrobia ulvae, a common gastropod from European intertidal mudflats. As a control experiment, one dish was treated similarly but maintained without Hydrobia. After two days, most of the sediment in the Hydrobia treatments was compacted into small cylindrical gastropod feces, and the tests of living benthic foraminifera (Ammonia tepida and Haynesina germanica) were clean and easily visible. Additional experiments showed that the foraminifera were not ingested by Hydrobia ulvae, and could be picked quickly and easily.