Journal
TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY
Volume 141, Issue 6, Pages 1600-1607Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1080/00028487.2012.717521
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Funding
- Interagency Ecological Program (California Department of Water Resources) [4600008764]
- State and Federal Contractors Water Agency [S/A-11]
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In the San Francisco Estuary, predation of the threatened delta smelt Hypomesus transpacificus by the invasive Mississippi silverside Menidia audens has been hypothesized but unconfirmed in the wild due to difficulties in reliably identifying egg or larval fish remains in gut contents. This study describes the use of TaqMan assays to examine the gut contents of wild Mississippi silversides for the presence of delta smelt DNA. The species-specific delta smelt assay was found to be highly sensitive and, in feeding trial experiments, capable of detecting delta smelt DNA in Mississippi silverside gut contents up to 36 h postingestion for some individuals. A substantial percentage (41%) of the 37 Mississippi silversides caught in the wild with midchannel trawling were positive for delta smelt DNA in their gut contents. Conversely, none of the 614 Mississippi silversides caught in the wild in nearshore beach seining contained delta smelt DNA in their gut contents.
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