Lack of consistency between the trophic interrelationships of five sparid species in two adjacent central Mediterranean coastal lagoons

Abstract

Both interspecific and intraspecific inter-lagoon differences, between the central Mediterranean coastal lakes of Fogliano and Caprolace, in the trophic patterns of the examined species Diplodus annularis, Diplodus puntazzo, Diplodus sargus, Lithognathus mormyrus and Sparus aurata were revealed by means of correspondence analysis. The most evident inter-lagoon qualitative and quantitative diet changes were observed in S. aurata. Feeding similarities among species were synthesized for each lake by means of multidimensional scaling. Trophic interrelationships among sparid fish were different in the two lagoons, as a direct consequence of diet variations in each species. Such differences are interpreted as possibly reflecting differences in the overall structure of the benthic communities. Different feeding models could be identified, each corresponding to a peculiar adaptive strategy for the consumption of lagoon benthic resources. The use of benthophagous fish feeding habits as a tool for the monitoring of the structure and the dynamics of coastal lagoon communities is discussed.

Diet of marine fish larvae and juveniles that use rocky intertidal pools at the Portuguese coast

“…The data presented indicates that D. sargus is an omnivorous and a generalist species, which is in line with previous studies in the South African marine littoral (Christensen, 1978;Joubert and Hanekom, 1980), in the Medes Islands, Mediterranean coast of Spain (Sala and Ballesteros, 1997), in the Fogliano and Caprolace lakes in Italy (Mariani et al, 2002), in the shallow coastal areas of Faial Island, Azores (Figueiredo et al, 2005), and in the Caprolace coastal lagoon, Italy (Costa and Cataudella, 2007). D. sargus is carnivorous earlier in its life and gradually increases the proportion of algae in its diet; it may ingest algae to collect their epiphyte diatoms (Joubert and Hanekom, 1980), to extract nutrients directly from the algae (Mann and Buxton, 1992) or to optimize the digestion of animals (Lobel, 1981).…”

“…obs.). Although the diets of these species are well known in other habitats (Christensen, ; Gon and Ben‐Tuvia, ; Rosecchi, ; Mirto et al., ; Sala and Ballesteros, ; Mariani et al., ; Bartulovic et al., ; Figueiredo et al., ; Sá et al., ; Chrisafi et al., ), there is a lack of knowledge concerning their diets in tidal pools but which is important to know in order to understand why juveniles use these environments in such high numbers in the spring and summer.…”

Dietary compositions of the sparid Acanthopagrus butcheri in three normally closed and variably hypersaline estuaries differ markedly

“…Blaber 1974Blaber , 1984Stoner and Livingston 1984;Booth and Buxton 1997;Havelange et al 1997;. Furthermore, the dietary compositions of different populations of a given sparid species sometimes vary markedly Mariani et al 2002;Tancioni et al 2003), which implies that sparids are highly opportunistic feeders. Although the diets of some sparids do not differ markedly with season (Dia et al 2000;Pallaoro et al 2003), Lithognathus mormyrus has been found to become more selective in its feeding in summer (Kallianiotis et al 2005).…”

Relationship between shape and trophic ecology of selected species of Sparids of the Caprolace coastal lagoon (Central Tyrrhenian sea)

“…Due to their excellent flesh, many representatives of this family have a high commercial value. The nine species examined have different ecologies (Domanevskaya and Patokina 1984;Mariani et al 2002;Pita et al 2002) 1 : Diplodus puntazzo feeds as a typical grazer on seagrass beds, D. annularis, D. sargus, D. vulgaris and Spondyliosoma cantharus were found to be generalists and remarkably omnivorous, Lithognathus mormyrus behaves as a strict carnivorous soft bottom feeder, Pagellus acarne is a predator hunting macrofauna. Sarpa salpa is strictly herbivorous grazing on aquatic plants, and Sparus aurata is an euryphagous, opportunistic benthic feeder.…”