Larviphagy in native bivalves and an introduced oyster

We measured filtration rates of C. gigas and M. edulis larvae by the adult bivalves (C. gigas, M. edulis and C. edule), and compared these to filtration rates of algae. Additionally, we studied the fate of filtered larvae. All three adult species filtered both C. gigas and M. edulis larvae. M. edulis larvae were filtered by all three bivalve species with the same filtration rates as algae, whereas filtration rates of C. gigas larvae were roughly 50% lower than filtration rates of algae. This suggests that C. gigas larvae can somehow reduce their filtration risk, whereas larvae of M. edulis cannot. The majority of filtered C. gigas and M. edulis larvae were ingested.