Functional diversity of feeding mechanisms in infralittoral cobble beds in Maltese harbours and non-harbours

Abstract

Cobble beds from Maltese harbour and non -harbour sites were characterised in terms of the functional diversity of feeding mechanisms. Given the nature of these two environments, differences in the overall feeding modalities of the respective species assemblages were expected; however, Maltese harbour and non -harbour sites were not very different in the frequency of the different categories of feeding traits. ‘Suspension feeding’ occurred in high frequencies in both harbours and non -harbours but harbours were distinguished from non -harbours by a higher frequency of ‘deposit feeding’.