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Not many of the Earth’s creatures can say that they’ve survived being chewed up and excreted, but the ostracods of the Great Lakes can.
Ostracods — also known as seed shrimp — can survive getting eaten by the round goby, an invasive fish that comes from central Eurasia, according to a recent study.
The study, published in the “Journal of Great Lakes Research,” suggests that the round goby can eat small freshwater mussels, but are less well-adapted to feeding on other hard-bodied prey such as ostracods. In the study,16.6 percent of the ostracods eaten by gobies were found alive after they were excreted. |
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The finding is important because if non-native and invasive prey survive getting eaten by gobies, then they could be spread as far as the fish swim.
The round goby was accidentally introduced by ballast water in the early- to mid-1990s, as were zebra and quagga mussels, said Seth Herbst, a fisheries biologist for the Department of Natural Resources.
One not-so-bad thing about the goby is that it eats these invasive mussels because they are part of their natural diet and “constantly in their face,” Herbst said.
“None passed through alive,” said biology professor Gregory Andraso of Gannon University in Pennsylvania and one of the study’s authors. The mussels make up about 92 percent of the round goby’s diet. |
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