The rocky shores of the Kenya coast at Mkomani, Mombasa support a wide variety of organisms. One of the common organisms is the gasteropod prosobranch mollusc Nerita. Three species of Nerites are found i.e Nerita plicata, N. undata and N. textilis, at different heights on the rocky shore. Various studies have been carried out on the Nerites and their ecological, zonational and migrational patterns and discussed by several workers. Thus, many aspects of the life of the Nerites are known, however little has been done on the nature of the food of these organisms. It is known that they are herbivorous and browse upon the algae found on the rocks by utilizing the powerful radula to scrape the food off (Ruwa and Brakel 1981). Little other information is available on the food of these molluscs. Details of the algal species, quantities and qualities of the contents have not been revealed. The study of the food could provide information that would be of use in the study of other aspects of the rocky shore ecosystem, their position in the ecosystem. |
