Abundance, Diversity, and Resource Use in an Assemblage of Conus Species in Enewetak Lagoon

Abstract

Eight species of the gastropod genus Conus co-occur in sand substrate and an adjacent meadow of Halimeda stuposa in Enewetak lagoon, an unusually diverse assemblage for this type of habitat. Population density is high, and large species predominate; they represent all major feeding groups in the genus: predators on polychaetes, enteropneusts, gastropods, and fishes. Although the two most common Conus species eat primarily the same prey species, they mainly take prey of different sizes in different microhabitats. The results suggest that sufficient microhabitat heterogeneity and prey diversity exist to permit spatial segregation and specialization on different prey resources by the different Conus species present. Between-species dissimilarity in resource use thus agrees with previous observations on more diverse Conus assemblages of subtidal coral reef platforms. Prey species diversity is inversely related to body size, confirming and extending a previously identified pattern among Conus species that prey on sedentary polychaetes.