Food Intake and Assimilation by Some Benthal Invertebrates at Low Temperature

The food intake rate by the benthal invertebrates of the Barents Sea (Idotea baltica, Gammarus oceaniais, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) at 8° С depending on the animals mass is well approximated by the equation C=0.199 W⁰‧⁵⁹³, where С is a ration in milligramm of dry mass per animal for a day and W is the body dry mass (mg). A relative ration of certain size groups changed from 5.6 to 18% of the mass energy equivalent in I. baltica and from 0.9 to 6.8% in G. oceanicus. Food assimilability grew from fry to adult animals for vegetable food and remained practically constant for animal food. No specificity was found in the degree of food assimilation by males and females. A tendency to the assimilation decrease is shown when temperature rises