Vertical migration patterns of two marine snails: Nucella lamellosa and Nucella ostrina

Abstract

Nucella ostrina and Nucella lamellosa are two species of predatory marine intertidal snail. They are common along the coast from California to Alaska, US and prey upon barnacles. We studied vertical migration and feeding patterns of each species and the best method for tagging them. We found that there was not much fluctuation in vertical movement, nor any significant peaks in feeding over our study period; however we did verify that N. lamellosa move up the shore a bit to feed. We also found that radio tagged N. lamellosa were more abundant lower on shore than their typical zone. These studies will help future studies on Nucella spp as well as further advance our efforts in predicting effects of climate change of behavior.