Social media in service of marine ecology: new observations of the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) scavenging on Portuguese man-of-war Physalia physalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

Gelatinous animals have been historically viewed as trophic dead-ends. However, there are increasing data showing these organisms being consumed by diverse predators and demonstrate they play an important role in ecosystem functioning. Here we document the Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) scavenging on stranded Physalia physalis (Linnaeus, 1758) at Sergipe and Bahia, tropical Brazil (11 degrees and 14 degrees Lat. S), based on Instagram (R) posts. These findings highlight the potential of social media to complement the information provided by traditional academic sources. We also suggest that this predatory interaction is probably more common than reported in the literature, perhaps due to methodological constraints of stomach content analyses, which may overlook the consumption of gelatinous animals by ghost crabs.

Automated summary

Gelatinous animals play an important role in ecosystems and social media can provide complementary information for research.