Journal
NEOTROPICAL ICHTHYOLOGY
Volume 15, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
SOC BRASILEIRA ICTIOLOGIA
DOI: 10.1590/1982-0224-20160047
Keywords
Abrolhos Bank; Diet; Epinephelus morio; Feeding overlap; Mycteroperca bonaci
Categories
Funding
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation/Conservation International, Conservation Leadership Programme [F024801]
- CAPES [8938/11-3]
- CNPq
- FAPERJ
- FUNBIO
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Red and black groupers are large-bodied opportunistic ambush predators commonly found in Southwestern Atlantic tropical reefs. We investigated the diet of both species in order to detail ontogenetic, spatial and temporal trends, and to assess the extent of overlap in resource use between these two sympatric predators on the Abrolhos Bank, Brazil. Decapods and fishes were the main food items of Epinephelus morio while fishes were the main prey of Mycteroperca bonaci. Both diets were significantly influenced by body size and habitat, but only smaller individuals of E. morio feed almost exclusively on crustaceans. While the two groupers rely on many of the same prey types, coexistence may be facilitated by E. morio feeding more heavily on crustaceans, particularly the blackpoint sculling crab Cronius ruber, while black grouper take comparatively few crustaceans but lots of fish prey. Predators like red and black groupers could trigger indirect effects in the community and influence a large range of ecological processes, such as linkages between top and intermediate predators, and intermediate predators and their resources.
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