3237 The Journal of Experimental Biology 213, 3237-3246 © 2010. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd doi:10.1242/jeb.038810 Swimming behavior and prey retention of the polychaete larvae Polydora ciliata (Johnston) B. W. Hansen1, H. H. Jakobsen2,*, A. Andersen3, R. Almeda4, T. M. Pedersen1, A. M. Christensen1 and B. Nilsson1 1Roskilde University, Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change, P O Box 260, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark, 2National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Charlottenlund Slot, Jægersborg Allé 1, DK-2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark, 3Department of Physics and Center for Fluid Dynamics, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark and 4Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC P. Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain *Author for correspondence at present address: National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, P.O. Box 358, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark (
[email protected]) SUMMARY The behavior of the ubiquitous estuarine planktotrophic spionid polychaete larvae Polydora ciliata was studied. We describe ontogenetic changes in morphology, swimming speed and feeding rates and have developed a simple swimming model using low Reynolds number hydrodynamics. In the model we assumed that the ciliary swimming apparatus is primarily composed of the prototroch and secondarily by the telotroch. The model predicted swimming speeds and feeding rates that corresponded well with the measured speeds and rates. Applying empirical data to the model, we were able to explain the profound decrease in specific feeding rates and the observed increase in the difference between upward and downward swimming speeds with larval size. We estimated a critical larval length above which the buoyancy-corrected weight of the larva exceeds the propulsion force generated by the ciliary swimming apparatus and thus forces the larva to the bottom.