Food availability
The food availability could also be an essential factor for the outbreak
of C. acicula. The food of pteropods like that of most plankton
feeders is composed of phytoplankton and protozoa such as diatoms,
dinoflagellates and minute crustaceans. It is noteworthy that in Daya
Bay, coincident with the temperature increase, the concentration of Chla collected from the samae buoy jumped from 0.96 mg
m-3 on June 9, 2020, to 5.53 mg m-3on June 10, 2020, and maintained at a relatively high level of
>1 mg m-3 for one week, which might be
attributed to high loads of nutrients from runoff induced by heavy
rainfall (Fig. 6). It suggested that there is a high supply of food
resources for C. acicula , who feeds on phytoplankton and
protozoa.