Spatial variation in feeding, prey distribution and food limitation of juvenile flounder Rhombosolea tapirina Günther

doi:10.1016/0022-0981(92)90286-J

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

Volume 165, Issue 1, 21 December 1992, Pages 1-21

https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0981(92)90286-J Get rights and content

Abstract

The feeding and prey distribution of juvenile greenback flounder Rhombosolea tapirina Günther was compared between Swan Bay, a sheltered bay with muddy sediments and a well-developed seagrass-detrital system, and an adjacent area of Port Phillip Bay, a more exposed area with coarser sandy sediments. Meiofauna was dominated by benthic harpacticoid copepods in both bays. Harpacticoids in Port Phillip Bay, however, were mainly interstitial while epibenthic species were dominant in Swan Bay. The diet of juvenile flounder in Swan Bay was almost entirely composed of epibenthic harpacticoids. Juvenile flounder in Port Phillip Bay ate epibenthic harpacticoids, harpacticoid nauplii and gammaridean amphipods; interstitial harpacticoids were apparently not susceptible to flatfish predation. In Swan Bay, there was a rapid increase in the number of prey consumed with fish size but the mean size of prey was constant, reflecting the size distribution of harpacticoids in the environment. At one site in Port Phillip Bay, the pattern was similar except that the increase in prey number with growth was much lower. At a second site, prey number decreased while prey size increased with increasing fish size, due to a replacement of harpacticoid nauplii with much lower numbers of gammaridean amphipods. Consumption of prey in terms of weight increased allometrically with fish size at all sites. The rate was significantly higher (80%) in Swan Bay, suggesting that fish in Port Phillip Bay were food-limited. Gut clearance times for juvenile flounder feeding on epibenthic harpacticoids was estimated to be ≈ 13 h. Feeding rate, in terms of prey number, was approximately three to four times higher in Swan Bay relative to Port Phillip Bay. Although abundance of juvenile flounder in Swan Bay was higher than in Port Phillip Bay, prey abundances were also much higher, and predatory impact was estimated to be insignificant. Impact of predation also appeared insignificant in Port Phillip Bay although more data are needed.

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Citation Excerpt :
Harpacticoid copepods are small, mostly benthic, crustaceans found in marine, brackish, and freshwater habitats around the world. Despite their importance in the food webs (e.g. Alheit and Scheibel, 1982; Shaw and Jenkins, 1992; Clarke, 1999; Ingólfsson and Kristjánsson, 2002) their trophic relationships and seasonal variations in utilization of food sources are poorly known. Based on gut content and on observations, they are known to feed on many different food items, diatoms, detritus, macroalgal tissues, bacteria and fungi (review by Hicks and Coull, 1983).
The present study is the first to compare trophic relationships of several co-occurring phytal harpacticoid species, in their natural habitat, using both δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N signatures. Three phytal harpacticoid species/taxa (Zaus spinatus, Tisbe spp., and Parathalestris cf. intermedia) all collected from the alga Fucus serratus, at different times of the year, were analyzed. The results indicated that the harpacticoids were utilizing food sources differently. Specific food sources of the three species/taxa could not be accurately pinpointed, but there were strong indications that F. serratus and fragments from it did contribute significantly to the diet of P. cf. intermedia and Tisbe spp. Both of these harpacticoid species overlapped in δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values with some of the macrofaunal species, collected from the same site in Hvassahraun, Iceland, while no overlap was seen for Z. spinatus. The signatures for Z. spinatus indicated that its food sources changed seasonally.
Are flatfish nursery grounds richer in benthic prey?
2009, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
Citation Excerpt :
The presence of abundant food resources in the nursery grounds does not necessarily imply the full availability of it for the juvenile flatfishes. Shaw and Jenkins (1992) found the impact of juvenile flatfishes on the abundance of their prey to be generally insignificant, or at least insufficient to reduce prey levels to a point where they become limiting. However, benthic macro invertebrates are intensively consumed by a variety of predators, such as aquatic birds and nekton (mostly fish and crustaceans) and this interspecific competition might result in limitation of the food resources (Rosa et al., 2008).
The density of macrobenthos was evaluated in the nursery grounds for flatfish of six estuarine systems along the coast of Portugal by comparison with adjacent non-nursery areas. The dry weight and density of macrobenthic fauna were significantly higher in the nursery grounds. Polychaeta, Bivalvia, Oligochaeta and Isopoda were found to be significantly more abundant in the nursery than in the non-nursery grounds. For Isopoda and Bivalvia, total dry weight was also significantly higher in the nursery areas. Correspondence analysis based on density showed that the nursery areas of the different estuaries grouped together relative to non-nursery sites, with a relative similarity in the abundance of Oligochaeta, Spionidae, Amage spp., Scrobicularia plana and Cerastoderma edule. Taking into consideration the generally opportunistic feeding ecology and low dietary selectivity of the flatfish species, the results indicated higher prey availability in the nursery grounds of the Portuguese estuaries, an important factor contributing to the quality of these areas. The relatively high macrobenthic productivity in the nursery areas might be linked to physical and biological interactions favouring the recruitment and maintenance of the communities.
Detecting the effects of physical disturbance on benthic assemblages in a subtropical estuary: A Beyond BACI approach
2006, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
The effects of dredging on the benthic communities in the Noosa River, a subtropical estuary in SE Queensland, Australia, were examined using a ‘Beyond BACI’ experimental design. Changes in the numbers and types of animals and characteristics of the sediments in response to dredging in the coarse sandy sediments near the mouth of the estuary were compared with those occurring naturally in two control regions. Samples were collected twice before and twice after the dredging operations, at multiple spatial scales, ranging from metres to kilometres. Significant effects from the dredging were detected on the abundance of some polychaetes and bivalves and two measures of diversity (numbers of polychaete families and total taxonomic richness). In addition, the dredging caused a significant increase in the diversity of sediment particle sizes found in the dredged region compared with elsewhere. Community composition in the dredged region was more similar to that in the control regions after dredging than before. Changes in the characteristics of the sedimentary environment as a result of the dredging appeared to lead to the benthic communities of the dredged region becoming more similar to those elsewhere in the estuary, so dredging in this system may have led to the loss or reduction in area of a specific type of habitat in the estuary with implications for overall patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem function.
Effects of harvesting callianassid (ghost) shrimps on subtropical benthic communities
2005, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology
The effects of harvesting of callianassid shrimp (Trypaea australiensis) on the abundance and composition of macrobenthic assemblages in unvegetated sediments of a subtropical coastal embayment in Queensland, Australia were examined using a combination of sampling and manipulative experiments. First, the abundance and composition of the benthic infauna in an area regularly used for the collection of shrimp for bait by recreational anglers was compared with multiple reference areas. Second, a BACI design, with multiple reference areas, was used to examine the short-term effects of harvesting on the benthic assemblages from an intensive commercialised fishing competition. Third, a large-scale, controlled manipulative experiment, where shrimp were harvested from 10,000 m² plots at intensities commensurate with those from recreational and commercial operators, was done to determine the impacts on different components of the infaunal assemblage.
Only a few benthic taxa showed significant declines in abundance in response to the removal of ghost shrimp from the unvegetated sediments. There was evidence, however, of more subtle effects with changes in the degree of spatial variation (patchiness) of several taxa as a result of harvesting. Groups such as capitellid polychaetes, gammarid amphipods and some bivalves were significantly more patchy in their distribution in areas subjected to harvesting than reference areas, at a scale of tens of metres. This scale corresponds to the patterns of movement and activity of recreational harvesters working in these areas. In contrast, patchiness in the abundance of ghost shrimp decreased significantly under harvesting at scales of hundreds of metres, in response to harvesters focussing their efforts on areas with greater numbers of burrow entrances, leading to a more even distribution of the animals. Controlled experimental harvesting caused declines in the abundance of soldier crabs (Mictyris longicarpus), polychaetes and amphipods and an increase in the spatial patchiness of polychaetes. Populations of ghost shrimp were, however, resilient to harvesting over extended periods of time. In conclusion, harvesting of ghost shrimp for bait by recreational and commercial fishers causes significant but localised impacts on a limited range of benthic fauna in unvegetated sediments, including changes in the degree of spatial patchiness in their distribution.
To what extent are the fish compositions at nearshore sites along a heterogeneous coast related to habitat type?
2004, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
This study has tested the following main hypotheses. (1) The composition of fish assemblages in nearshore waters along the lower west coast of Australia will differ significantly among four habitat types (1–4), which could be distinguished quantitatively from each other by differences in the values for a statistically selected suite of enduring environmental variables. (2) The extents of the differences in ichthyofaunal composition among the four habitat types will statistically match those in the suite of environmental variables that distinguish those habitat types. A 60.5 m long seine net, with 9 mm mesh in the bunt, was used seasonally for 2 years to sample fish from sites representing each of the four nearshore habitat types, which differed broadly in their exposure to wave activity and the extent and location of seagrass beds. The compositions of the fish faunas in each habitat type were significantly different from each other in all but one case. Ichthyofaunal composition did not differ significantly between years in any habitat type and differed significantly among seasons in only one habitat type. The arrangement of the rank orders of similarity in matrices constructed from the abundances of the fish species at each site also did not differ between years but did differ among seasons. Moreover, the arrangement of the ranks in the similarity matrices produced from the ichthyofaunal data recorded at the various sites in each season were significantly correlated with that in the distance matrix constructed from the environmental data for those sites, with the correlation (ρ) ranging from 0.476 in winter to 0.696 in autumn. These results thus demonstrate that the extents of the differences in the fish compositions among the various habitat types parallel those in the environmental data for the corresponding habitat types. The subset of species that provided the best correlation with the environmental distance matrix, and which was thus most responsible for distinguishing among the fish compositions at the four habitat types, was also determined for each season.
Size-related shifts in the habitat associations of young-of-the-year winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus): Field observations and laboratory experiments with sediments and prey
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Field surveys and laboratory studies were used to determine the role of substrata in habitat selection by young-of-the year winter flounder. A synoptic field survey of winter flounder and sediments in the Navesink River–Sandy Hook Bay estuarine system in New Jersey demonstrated that winter flounder distribution was related to sediment grain size. Analysis using a generalized additive model indicated that the probability of capturing 10–49 mm SL winter flounder was high on sediments with a mean grain diameter of ≤0.5 mm, while fish 50–95 mm were least likely to be collected on fine sediments and most commonly on sediments with a grain-size near 1.0 mm. In the laboratory, sediment preferences and the burying ability of winter flounder (15–69 mm SL) were tested by exposing fish in 10-mm size groups to a choice of azoic sediments of different sediment grain sizes. Smaller individuals (<40 mm SL) preferred fine-grained sediments while larger individuals (≥40 mm SL) preferred coarse-grained sediments. Burying ability increased with size and all flounders avoided sediments that prevented burial. Subsequent laboratory experiments revealed that the presence of live prey (Mya arenaria) can over-ride sediment choice by winter flounder (50–68 mm SL) indicating the complexity of interrelated factors in habitat choice.

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References (30)

Fish predation on meiobenthos: field experiments with juvenile spot Leiostomus xanthurus Lacépède

J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol.

Field experiments on the role of epibenthic predators in determining prey densities in an estuarine mudflat

Estuarine Coastal Shelf Sci.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of a meiobenthic copepod and the impact of predationdisturbance

J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol.

The food and growth of 0-group flatfish on nursery grounds in the Clyde Sea area

Estuarine Coastal Shelf Sci.

Juvenile spot (Pisces) and grass shrimp predation on meiobenthos in muddy and sandy substrata

J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol.

Settlement, growth and mortality of postlarval plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) in the western Wadden Sea

Neth. J. Sea Res.

Benthic harpacticoids as a food source for fish

Mar. Biol.

Environmental study of Port Phillip Bay

Abundance and growth of 0-group plaice (Pleuronectes platessa L.) in relation to food abundance in a coastal nursery area

A broad view of variability and persistence in the Northumberland benthic fauna — 1971–1985

J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K.

Life history and production of three amphipod species on Georges Bank

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

An ecological study of the Tasmanian flounder

Predation on meiofauna by juvenile fish in a western Mediterranean flatfish nursery ground

Mar. Biol.

Size selective predation by juvenile chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) on epibenthic prey in Puget Sound

J. Fish. Res. Board Can.

Goby (Pisces:Gobiidae) interactions with meiofauna and small macrofauna

Bull. Mar. Sci.

Cited by (39)

Field evidence of differential food utilization of phytal harpacticoids collected from Fucus serratus indicated by δ<sup>13</sup>C and δ<sup>15</sup>N stable isotopes

Are flatfish nursery grounds richer in benthic prey?

Detecting the effects of physical disturbance on benthic assemblages in a subtropical estuary: A Beyond BACI approach

Effects of harvesting callianassid (ghost) shrimps on subtropical benthic communities

To what extent are the fish compositions at nearshore sites along a heterogeneous coast related to habitat type?

Size-related shifts in the habitat associations of young-of-the-year winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus): Field observations and laboratory experiments with sediments and prey