Worldwide, lobsters are considered important predators of macroalgae-consuming urchin species, but this has not been tested for Australia’s common lobster, the eastern rock lobster (Sagmariasus verreauxi). We predicted that the abundant urchins, the long-spined urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii) and the short-spined urchin (Heliocidaris erythrogramma), would form substantial components of lobster diets. To test this hypothesis, we examined 115 lobster stomachs from 9 locations and conducted 14 feeding trials, in which lobsters were offered either urchin species. Dissections revealed various stomach items, with detritus (51%), bivalves (34%), gastropods (28%) and algae (26%) occurring more frequently than urchins (19%). Urchin spines were found in 22 lobsters that ranged in size from 91- to 124-mm carapace length, with all individuals containing H. erythrogramma spines and C. rodgersii spines observed only once. During feeding trials, seven urchins were consumed. Four H. erythrogramma were eaten on Day 1, whereas one was not eaten until Day 11. Two C. rodgersii were eaten on Days 2 and 10. Only three of the six lobsters observed to eat urchins ingested spines. Together, these data show that S. verreauxi is a generalist predator that consumes urchins, although, because urchins could be eaten without ingesting spines, future studies are needed to assess the importance of urchins as dietary items for S. verreauxi.

在世界范围内，龙虾被认为是消耗大量藻类的顽童的重要食肉动物，但尚未对澳大利亚的普通龙虾，东部岩龙虾（Sagmariasus verreauxi）进行过测试。我们预测大量的海胆，长柄海胆（Centrostephanus rodgersii）和短柄海胆（Heliocidaris erythrogramma），将构成龙虾饮食的重要组成部分。为了验证该假设，我们从9个地点检查了115个龙虾胃，并进行了14次饲养试验，其中为其中的一种顽童提供龙虾。解剖显示各种胃部疾病，碎屑（51％），双壳类动物（34％），腹足动物（28％）和藻类（26％）的发生率比海胆（19％）高。海胆棘在22只龙虾，在大小从91-到124毫米甲长范围被发现，用含有所有个体H. erythrogramma刺和C. rodgersii棘仅观察到一次。在喂养试验期间，消耗了7只海胆。四H. erythrogramma被吃掉在第1天，而一个未吃掉直到第11天两个C. rodgersii在第2天和第10天被吃掉了。观察到的六只龙虾中只有三只吃了海胆，并摄入了刺。这些数据加在一起表明，维氏链球菌是食用海胆的通才捕食者，尽管由于可以吃海胆而不摄取刺，所以需要进一步的研究来评估海胆作为维氏链球菌的饮食项目的重要性。