Diet of the white-dotted skate,Bathyraja albomaculata, in waters of Argentina

Abstract

The present paper analyzes the diet, feeding strategy and niche width of Bathyraja albomaculata over the Patagonian continental shelf and upper slope. The diet comprised a variety of 14 small invertebrates, although the most important prey were polychaete worms. The opheliid polychaete Travisia sp. and the gammarid amphipod Cirolana sp. were the main prey present in stomach contents of B. albomaculata. No differences were found between the diets of males and females, however ontogenetic changes were detected. Skates <40 cm of disk width (DW) preyed on amphipods, and sizes >40 cm DW largely consumed polychaetes. As size increased, polychaetes became more important and the importance of amphipods decreased. B. albomaculata showed a narrow food niche and a marked specialization towards polychaetes.

Feeding habits of the Magellan skate: effects of sex, maturity stage, and body size on diet

“…B. brachyurops and B. griseocauda have broad diets comprising primarily crustaceans (i.e., isopods and amphipods), cephalopods, and fishes (Brickle et al, 2003;Belleggia et al, 2008). In contrast, B. macloviana and B. albomaculata are specialized polychaete feeders (Brickle et al, 2003;Mabragaña et al, 2005;Scenna et al, 2006;Ruocco et al, 2009), and B. magellanica in our study have a fish-based diet. Thus, members of this genus demonstrate high interspecific variability in their feeding habits, which may lead to a reduction of potential interspecific competition for food, allowing species to coexist in the same region.…”

Effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on the diet of Bathyraja macloviana, a benthophagous skate

“…Ontogenetic dietary shifts were found, where the smallest individuals fed on amphipods, individuals from 500 to 600 mm L T preyed on polychaetes and large individuals incorporated isopods and decapods in their diet. A similar pattern was found in another specialized rajid in the same region: as white-dotted skate Bathyraja albomaculata (Norman 1937) increases in size, the consumption of amphipods decreases and the consumption of polychaetes increases (Brickle et al ., 2003;Ruocco et al ., 2009). For several species of rajids, the ontogenetic dietary shifts can be attributed to morphological limitations (e.g.…”

Feeding habits of ocellate spot skate, Okamejei kenojei (Müller & Henle, 1841), in coastal waters of Taean, Korea

“…Among the rajid skates, R. binoculata, R. inornata, R. rhina, Bathyraja albomaculata (Bizzarro et al, 2007), Dipturus lemprieri (Treloar et al, 2007) and D. polyommata (Kyne et al, 2008) showed similar dietary composition as that of O. kenojei, whereas Raja pulchra (Yeon et al, 1999) and D. cerva (Treloar et al, 2007) fed exclusively on crustaceans. Rajid skates consume benthic invertebrates, primarily crustaceans (Ajayi, 1982;Berestovsky, 1989;Ebert et al, 1991;Ellis et al, 1996;Orlov, 1998;Rinewalt et al, 2007;San Martin et al, 2007;Ruocco et al, 2009). However, a few large-bodied skates such as Raja and Dipturus feed more on fish than do the other small-sized skates (Lucifora et al, 2000;Morato et al, 2003;Bizzarro et al, 2007;Robison et al, 2007;Treloar et al, 2007).…”

“…Many studies worldwide have investigated the stomach contents of single and ⁄ or groups of rajid skates (Orlov, 1998;Yeon et al, 1999;Lucifora et al, 2000;Farias et al, 2006;Bizzarro et al, 2007;Rinewalt et al, 2007;Robison et al, 2007;Treloar et al, 2007;Ruocco et al, 2009). In spite of its commercial importance, little information is known about the ecology and biology of O. kenojei and only a few studies have described their trophic ecology (Hong et al, 2000) and reproductive biology (Ishihara et al, 2002).…”