Natural Prey Preferences and Spatial Variability of Predation Pressure by Cyphoma gibbosum (Mollusca: Gastropoda) on Octocoral Communities off La Parguera, Puerto Rico

Figure 2

(a) Photographs showing the snail Cyphoma gibbosum grazing on several species of octocoral. Two snails each on a single colony of P. americana, P. homomalla, and P. acerosa (A, B, C). A branch of P. porosa with a large portion of tissue eaten by one snail (D). Snail eating tissue from B. asbestinum (E, F) and P. nutans (G). (Photo credit: E. Weil). (b) Photographs showing a medium size colony of G. ventalina with four snails and scar areas produced by its feeding activity on the main axis and blade (A, B). Close-up of the damage produced by the snail feeding (C, D) and a large colony showing the impact of predation activity of one snail along the main axes and the blade (E). These damaged tissue areas are susceptible to infections by pathogens and/or could be rapidly colonized by algae, sponges, or Millepora which could increase sea fan tissue mortality (Photo credit: E. Weil).

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