Environment

Meet the goby guts survivors

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By MOLLIE LISKIEWICZ
Capital News Service
LANSING – Not many of the Earth’s creatures can say that they’ve survived being chewed up and pooped out – but the ostracods of the Great Lakes can. Ostracods – also known as seed shrimp – can survive getting eaten by the round goby, an invasive fish that comes from central Eurasia, according to a recent study. The study, published in the “Journal of Great Lakes Research,” suggests that the round goby can eat small freshwater mussels, but are less well-adapted to feeding on other hard-bodied prey such as ostracods. In the study, 16.6 percent of the ostracods eaten by gobies were found alive after they were excreted. The finding is important because if non-native and invasive prey survive getting eaten by gobies, then they could be spread as far as the fish swim.