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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2014

Fernando José König Clark  and
André Luiz Machado Pessanha
Fernando José König Clark
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Biologia Marinha, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Avenida das Baraúnas, 351, 58429-500Campina Grande, PB, Brazil
André Luiz Machado Pessanha*
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Biologia Marinha, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Avenida das Baraúnas, 351, 58429-500Campina Grande, PB, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A.L.M. Pessanha, Laboratório de Biologia Marinha, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Avenida das Baraúnas, 351, 58429-500, Campina Grande, PB, Brazil email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

trophic ecologytidal creeksmudflatontogenyClupeidae
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 95 , Issue 1 , February 2015 , pp. 175 - 183
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2014 

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