Diet and ontogenetic shift in habitat use by Rhinosardinia bahiensis in a tropical semi-arid estuary, north-eastern Brazil

作者：Koenig Clark Fernando Jose; Machado Pessanha Andre Luiz

来源：Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2015, 95(1): 175-183.

DOI：10.1017/S0025315414000939

• trophic ecology
• tidal creeks
• mudflat
• ontogeny
• Clupeidae

The feeding biology of bahia sprat (Rhinosardinia bahiensis) was studied in two habitats of a tropical semi-arid estuary, on the north-eastern Brazilian coast. Samplings were collected on a monthly basis (January 2010-February 2011), and fish were caught during the day using an 8 m beach seine. Habitat use was size-dependent, with tidal mudflat occupied by higher size-classes than tidal creeks, which were occupied by smaller conspecifics. The diet analysis of different size-classes revealed that all sizes of fish consumed similar taxa (Calanoida, Cyclopoida and Decapoda larvae), and that the relative proportion of taxa consumed reflected fish size. Dietary differences between the two nursery areas mainly reflected prey availability. Although high diet overlap was only found between some size-classes in tidal mudflat, these results seem to demonstrate a strategy for efficient use of space potential; intraspecific competition was probably minimized by a differential habitat use patterns.

• 出版日期2015-2