Patterns of diatom treatment in two coexisting species of filter-feeding freshwater gastropods

To assess trophic partitioning among sympatric gastropod species in ancient lakes, we quantified diatoms in the guts of two coexistent Baikal gastropod species and tested for differences in species, size, and fracturing of large and small diatoms by taenioglossan radulae. In May 2010, the diatom Synedra acus dominated the littoral phytoplankton and gut contents of Baicalia turriformis and Teratobaikalia ciliata (Baicaliidae), both inhabiting the rocky Baikal littoral. In laboratory experiments, both ctenidial filter-feeding gastropods were fed with two diets of cultivated Synedra acus of different cell sizes: >150 μm and