Contribution à l’étude du régime et de la stratégie alimentaire chez quelques espèces d’holothurie de l’ordre des Holothuriida de la mer Méditerranée.

Abstract

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.