Résumé:
This study aimed to a comparative analysis of three scientific articles covering diet
and feeding behavior of some Mediterranean Sea cucumbers. The first article treated the
subject with a classic approach (digestive content analysis), while the second and third article
treated this subject with a more focused approach, which is carbon and nitrogen isotopic
tracers.
The two methods are complementary to each other and allow us to say that the studied
holothurians use different trophic sources. These marine organisms have a large isotopic
niche, indicating generalist behavior, which allows them a better ecological niche partition.
One of the most important results obtained by the authors of the three articles is that all the
studied sea cucumbers consume Posidonia. The diet of Holothuria poli and Holothuria
tubulosa from the two sites of Salamandre and Torre Astura (Italy) is slightly different from
those of Stidia, in which, sea cucumbers consume food sources belonging to different trophic
levels.
