Spatial distribution of epibionts on olive ridley sea turtles at Playa Ostional, Costa Rica.

ABSTRACT: There is a wealth of published information on the epibiont communities of sea turtles, yet many of these studies have exclusively sampled epibionts found only on the carapace. Considering that epibionts may be found on almost all body-surfaces and that it is highly plausible to expect different regions of the body to host distinct epibiont taxa, there is a need for quantitative information on the spatial variation of epibiont communities on turtles. To achieve this, we measured how total epibiont abundance and biomass on olive ridley turtles Lepidochelys olivacea varies among four body-areas of the hosts (n = 30). We showed that epibiont loads on olive ridleys are higher, both in terms of number and biomass, on the skin than they are on the carapace or plastron. This contrasts with previou

SUBMITTER: Robinson NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6730992 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature