Comparative analysis of diet composition and its relation to morphological characteristics in juvenile fish of three lutjanid species in a Mexican Pacific coastal lagoon

Abstract

The main goal of this research was to investigate the differences in diet composition among three species of the genus Lutjanus inhabiting a coastal lagoon as juveniles. The working hypothesis was that these species feed on a common base of food resources and therefore, some niche overlap is present in terms of general diet composition. However, changes in the trophic niche with size and differences in some morphological traits among species explain observed differences in diet. Fish were collected during 42 sampling trips conducted regularly from February 2011 to January 2012 using several types of fishing gear. Total number of analyzed stomachs was 288 for Lutjanus argentiventris from 2.3 to 19.9 cm total length (TL); 178 for Lutjanus colorado ranging from 2.4 to 30.1 cm TL; and 183 for Lutjanus novemfasciatus with 1.2 to 20.0 cm TL. Results indicate that juveniles of all three lutjanid species share a general diet based on decapods and fishes. However, L. novemfasciatus has a more piscivorous habit, which can be explained by a more slender body shape and larger teeth, characteristics, which increase fish catching performance. Larger fish of all three species eat larger prey, which is consistent with the optimum foraging theory.

Trophic level and position of Pterygoplichthys pardalis in Ciliwung River (Jakarta, Indonesia) ecosystem based on the gut content analysis

“…This statement is supported by the results from the research which stated that Chlorophyta and Cyanophyta discovered in the guts of plecos fish in the Langat River, are relatively abundant in the habitat (Samat et al 2016). Fishes generally adjust the food types to the size of their mouth openings, while the larger ones tend to consume more food (Zuluaga-Gomez et al 2016;Aguilar-Betancourt et al 2017;Winkler et al 2017). The IP analysis obtained, showed that P. pardalis is included in the opportunist fish group because it is able to utilize the food available in the river.…”

“…The joint use of available diet resources by the fish size groups tends to cause overlapping niches. Overlapping occurs when the food resources are shared by two or more types of fish (Sentosa and Satria 2015;Aguilar-Betancourt et al 2017;Westerborn et al 2018). The results from the analysis of overlapping niches showed that the relationship between the large and medium fish groups has a greater value (0.77) compared to that of other groups (Table 4).…”

“…The type of diet consumed is generally influenced or determined by the morphological character of fish (Delariva and Agostinho 2001;Mazzoni et al 2010;Pound et al 2011;Aguilar-Betancourt et al 2017;Winkler et al 2017). For instance, P. pardalis has a suction type of ventral mouth, which allows fish to scrape food from rough surfaces (Samat et al 2016).…”

Apparent digestibility in marine mutton snapper juveniles and digestive activity of enzymes

“…The Lutjanus sp. genus is a marine species of snapper native to the Atlantic coastal waters of the Americas from Massachusetts to southern Brazil with potential for captive culture, with great productive performance, demand for the consumer market and high market value (Freitas, et al, 2011;Aguilar-Betancourt, et al, 2017). Thus, the development of the marine aquaculture productive chain, highlighting the mutton snapper Lutjanus analis culture, reduces extractive fishing and preserves the natural stocks, and provides a tool for protecting this significant group of reef fish (Sanches, et al, 2007).…”

Molecular identification and first morphological description of theColoradosnapperLutjanus colorado(Perciformes: Lutjanidae) larvae

“…Within these species, the Colorado snapper (L. colorado) reaches sizes up to 90 cm in total length and has a wide distribution in the tropical and Northeastern Pacific (TEP) from the coasts of California (USA) to Panama, including the GC. This species inhabits coastal reefs down to 70 m in depth, but juveniles are associated with coastal waters and estuaries (Allen, 1985(Allen, , 1995; this species has been captured in artisanal fisheries (Aguilar-Betancourt et al, 2017;Allen, 1995) and is also considered as a potential aquaculture species (Hernandez et al, 2018).…”