Journal
BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF OCEANOGRAPHY
Volume 63, Issue 4, Pages 429-442Publisher
INST OCEANOGRAFICO, UNIV SAO PAULO
DOI: 10.1590/S1679-87592015091306304
Keywords
Diet; Feeding ecology; Fish community; Diet overlap; Estuary
Categories
Funding
- National System of Research on Biodiversity (SISBIOTA/BRASIL)
- CNPq - Brazilian National Agency for Scientific and Technological Development [563202/2010-6, 477663/2011-7]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The present study deals with the temporal variations in diet and the trophic guilds of dominant fish species on a tidal mudflat during the dry and rainy seasons. We sought to classify the diet composition of 17 species in the Mamanguape river estuary, northeastern Brazil, identifying the dominant food components and evaluating the effects of seasonality on the guild organization. Diets varied little between species and seasons, though they seemed to be more heterogeneous during the rainy season. Five primary feeding guilds were identified, in accordance with the importance of prey in the diets: (1) Detritivore, (2) Zooplanktivore, (3) Zoobenthivore-epifaune, (4) Zoobenthivore-infaune, and (5) Piscivore. Most fishes fed on a diverse range of food items but relied heavily on zooplankton prey. Several fish species showed a tendency to a specialised diet, with almost all species showing some degree of opportunistic feeding. A high degree of diet overlap was found among some species; however, the presence of exploitative competition could not be determined.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available