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Predation on fossil and Recent ophiuroids

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Richard B. Aronson
Richard B. Aronson*
Affiliation:
Department of Pure & Applied Zoology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AJ, England
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Abstract

The frequency of sublethal damage was examined in two ophiuroid species, Palaeocoma milleri and ?Ophioderma tenuibrachiata (Ophiodermatidae), from a shallow-water Jurassic “starfish bed.” None of 60 specimens was regenerating arms, a result that agrees with four previous studies of Paleozoic and early Mesozoic ophiuroids. By contrast, 66.1 percent of a living Ophioderma brevispinum population from Belize were regenerating one or more arms. For living populations of Ophiothrix oerstedi, the natural injury frequency was high at sites where the field mortality of tethered individuals was high. All predators that have been observed feeding on ophiuroids cause sublethal injuries, which would appear as regenerating arms in the fossil record. These results support the hypothesis that predation pressure on ancient ophiuroid populations was low and increased after the Jurassic.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , Spring 1987 , pp. 187 - 192
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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