The prey capture behaviour in Cnidaria (Anthozoa and Scyphozoa)

Abstract

The animal study of behavior at the moment of food availability is a very important tool. This is utilized for several areas of study as evolution and ethology, thus been possible to obtain a variety of information about the intra- and interspecific relationships that have evolved over the development of life on the planet. The phylum Cnidaria consists of animals for which several evolutionary reconstructions have been created in an attempt to depict the relationship between the main groups. However, no comparative hypothesis among the species of the two subphyla, Anthozoaria and Medusozoa, was presented to demonstrate the feeding behaviors that guide the different individuals in these groups. Thus, this project aims to gather information on food capture methods in laboratory experiments with filming at high speed (slowmotion). The experiments will constitute the observation of capture methods of Artemia sp. nauplii of three specimens of polyps of seven species of cnidarians. Based on these observations that will be possible to describe the patterns for the motility of polyps of each species and also it will be possible to present evolutionary scenarios indicating the similarities in behavior among the studied species. (AU)