Effect of experience on predatory behaviour of dogwhelks

We used an acoustic transducer to monitor the radular activity of dogwhelks , Nucella lapillus, drilling mussels, Mytilus edulis, in the laboratory and we examined the effect of dietary experience on prey-handling behaviour. F or the first time, phases of inspection, penetration and ingestion could be distinguished directly, and consequently the prey-handling process analyse d in detail. Dogwhelks with different field-based experience of mussels sho wed different handling behaviour. Those collected from a mussel-dominated s hore more readily adopted the faster method of penetrating between the slig htly gaping valves, instead of the slower method of drilling through the sh ell Those collected from a barnacle-dominated shore took significantly long er to attack the mussel and then were unable to switch from drilling to pen etrating through the gape between valves. Experience of specific prey in th e field, by reducing handling time, could promote fitness by reducing expos ure to environmental hazards. Laboratory attempts to train dogwhelks from t he barnacle-dominated shore to use the gape penetration method failed, sugg esting that functional constraints, such as injection of a relaxant when pe netrating through the gape and/or genetically controlled behavioural traits , could limit the ability to learn handling skills. (C) 1999 The Associatio n for the Study of Animal Behaviour.