Week 10 Quiz, question 2

[JoshF]

The question was;

2. Which of the following is a stony coral predator?

One of the options was _Eunice spp._ and I chose this as one of the answers. The posted answers did not include _Eunice spp._ as stony coral predators, but the following from the lecture indicates that they are. Am I missing something?

"Carnivorous polychaetes, while quite rare, can and will prey on coral tissue. These larger specimens (especially those of the genera Nereis, Eunice, and Hermodice) can either burrow into corals or actively feed on their surface...The major boring polychaetes are from the families, Eunicidae, Lumbrineridae, Dorvilleidae, Spionidae, Cirratulidae, and Sabellidae. Those with well developed grinding teeth probably erode skeleton mechanically, while those with poorly developed teeth may use chemical dissolution. "

When talking about boring into the skeleton, or chemically eroding it, I assumed this to mean stony corals. Is this true?

Josh

 

[Eric Borneman]

Hi Josh:

That statement is a bit cryptic,looking back at it. I think this is larely becuase when I wrote it, there was some question as to whether any but Hermodice ate coral tissue, but I rather suspected there wasn't. The others are certainly boring polychaetes as stated inthe second line, but only Hermodice as far as I know, dines on coral tissue and can be considered a predator.

 

[Alice]

True; and I read the above and submitted my quiz before I received Julie Bailey-Brocks email on corallivorous worms. But if it's a choice between the two, I'll still take the bonus points, lol.

[ June 23, 2001: Message edited by: Alice ]

 

[geeflipr]

I could swear that I had read that Eunice was known to prey on octocorals,but reading back thru I cant't find where I hallucinated the reference