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Trophic spectrum and feeding pattern of cannonball jellyfish Stomolophus meleagris (Agassiz, 1862) from central Gulf of California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2015

Francisco J. Álvarez-Tello ,
Juana López-Martínez  and
Daniel B. Lluch-Cota
Francisco J. Álvarez-Tello
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste S.C., Km. 2.35 Carretera a Las Tinajas, S/N Colonia Tinajas, Guaymas, Sonora, CP 85460, México
Juana López-Martínez*
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste S.C., Km. 2.35 Carretera a Las Tinajas, S/N Colonia Tinajas, Guaymas, Sonora, CP 85460, México
Daniel B. Lluch-Cota
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, S.C. Av. Instituto Politécnico Nacional 195, Playa Palo de Santa Rita Sur; La Paz, B.C.S., C.P. 23096, México
*
Correspondence should be addressed to:J. López-Martínez, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste S.C., Km. 2.35 Carretera a Las Tinajas, S/N Colonia Tinajas, Guaymas, Sonora, CP 85460, México email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The diet and feeding pattern of scyphomedusa Stomolophus meleagris (Rhizostomeae) was studied, by comparing stomach samples from different developmental stages and environmental zooplankton with the aim to determine diet composition, trophic niche breadth, selectivity and feeding overlap of this edible jellyfish species. Samplings were performed during April and December 2010 and in January 2011, in the coastal lagoon Las Guásimas (27°49′–27°54′N 110°40′–110°35′W), central Gulf of California, which consisted of zooplankton tows and jellyfish collections for stomach content. More than 39 prey items were identified in the gut contents (N = 69), from which eight taxa formed over 90% of the total. Fish eggs were considered main prey (58.6%), copepods (10.8%), veliger larvae of gastropod (13.0%) and bivalve (12.7%) were secondary prey while cirriped and decapod larvae were incidental prey (<3%). However, these proportions varied significantly between small, medium and large size classes of medusa as well as number and type of prey increasing as a function of medusa size. Values of Levin's index confirmed S. meleagris is a specialist predator and Pearre's index showed positive selection of fish eggs, gastropods, bivalves and cirripeds while selectivity was negative for copepods and appendicularians. The relative timing of these changes suggests that ontogenetic processes are closely related with shift in the diet, which indicates increasing predation pressure during development of the medusoid stage of this species, thus emphasizing their ecological importance in coastal ecosystems.

Keywords

Stomolophus meleagrisstomach contentsdiet compositionzooplanktonfeeding patternontogenetic shiftcopepodsfish eggsGulf of California
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 96 , Issue 6 , September 2016 , pp. 1217 - 1227
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

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