Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:08:20.638Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diet and trophic level of scaldfish Arnoglossus laterna in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (western Mediterranean): contrasting trawled versus untrawled areas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2009

E. Fanelli ,
F. Badalamenti ,
G. D'Anna  and
C. Pipitone
E. Fanelli*
Affiliation:
ICM–CSIC, P.g Maritim de la Barceloneta 37–49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain IAMC–CNR, via G. da Verrazzano, 17–91014, Castellammare del Golfo (TP), Italy
F. Badalamenti
Affiliation:
IAMC–CNR, via G. da Verrazzano, 17–91014, Castellammare del Golfo (TP), Italy
G. D'Anna
Affiliation:
IAMC–CNR, via G. da Verrazzano, 17–91014, Castellammare del Golfo (TP), Italy
C. Pipitone
Affiliation:
IAMC–CNR, via G. da Verrazzano, 17–91014, Castellammare del Golfo (TP), Italy
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: E. Fanelli, ICM–CSIC, P.g Maritim de la Barceloneta 37–49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study assesses the effects of bottom trawling on the feeding ecology of the scaldfish Arnoglossus laterna, by contrasting diets in an untrawled area and in two trawled areas off northern Sicily (western Mediterranean): the Gulf of Castellammare (which hosts a 200 km2 no-trawl area) and the gulfs of Termini Imerese and Sant'Agata. Scaldfish were collected in May–June 2005 using a commercial otter trawler between 40 and 80 m on muddy bottoms. Our data show that scaldfish is a selective feeder and consumes similar prey items in the three gulfs, although between-site differences in the relative prey abundance in the stomachs were detected. In the three gulfs scaldfish fed mainly on the crab Goneplax rhomboides and on the fish Lesueurigobius suerii, but there was an increase in the consumption of L. suerii and the shrimp Alpheus glaber in the trawled areas. Ontogenetic changes were evident in the diet of scaldfish, with juveniles preying mainly upon suprabenthic species, e.g. mysids and small decapods. While significant differences occurred in the diet of juveniles among all areas due to natural spatial variability, variations in the diet of adults, which feed on benthic prey, occurred between untrawled and trawled areas. These variations were clearly due to trawling disturbance, and no significant difference was detected in the diet of adults between the two trawled areas. On the contrary, the trophic level (δ15N values) of scaldfish did not vary between trawled and untrawled areas and between juveniles and adults. Changes in the source of carbon, as detected by δ13C values, were evident between juveniles and adults, evidencing a shift from a suprabenthic (juveniles) to a benthic (adults) diet.

Keywords

feeding ecologystable isotopestrawl banArnoglossus laternaMediterranean Sea
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 89 , Issue 4 , June 2009 , pp. 817 - 828
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Amezcua, F., Nash, R.D.M. and Veale, L. (2003) Feeding habits of the Order Pleuronectiformes and its relation to the sediment type in the North Irish Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 83, 593–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andaloro, F. (1994) Indagini sulle condizioni della fascia costiera della Sicilia settentrionale per la tutela, il ripopolamento e lo sfruttamento ottimale delle risorse biologiche. ICRAM and Ministero della Marina Mercantile. Technical Report.Google Scholar
Anderson, M.J. (2001) A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Australian Ecology 26, 32–46.Google Scholar
Anderson, M.J. (2006) Distance-based tests for homogeneity of multivariate dispersions. Biometrics 62, 245–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arena, G. and Bombace, G. (1970) Bionomie benthique et faune ichtyologique des fonds de l'étage circalittoral et bathyal des golfes de Castellammare (Sicile nord-occidentale) et de Patti (Sicile nord-orientale). Journées Ichthyologique Rome CIESM 145–156.Google Scholar
Auster, P. and Langton, R. (1999) The effects of fishing on fish habitat. American Fisheries Society Symposium 22, 150–187.Google Scholar
Avsar, D. (1994) Diel diet and feeding behavior of scaldfish (Arnoglossus laterna Walbaum, 1792) in the Bay of Mersin. Acta Adriatica 34, 89–101.Google Scholar
Badalamenti, F., D'Anna, G., Pinnegar, J.K. and Polunin, N.V.C. (2002) Size-related trophodynamic changes in three target fish species recovering from intensive trawling. Marine Biology 141, 561–570.Google Scholar
Badalamenti, F., Sweeting, C.J., Polunin, N.V.C., Pinnegar, J.K., D'Anna, G. and Pipitone, C. (2008) Limited trophodynamics effects of trawling on three Mediterranean fishes. Marine Biology 154, 765–773.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergman, M.J.N. and Van Santbrink, J.W. (2000) Mortality in megafaunal benthic populations caused by trawl fisheries on the Dutch continental shelf in the North Sea in 1994. ICES Journal of Marine Science 57, 1321–1331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braber, L. and De Groot, S.G. (1973) The food of five flatfish species (Pleuronectiformes) in southern North Sea. Netherlands Journal of Sea Research 6, 163–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunel, P., Besner, M., Messier, D., Poirier, L., Granger, D. and Weinstein, M. (1978) Le traîneau suprabenthique Macer-GIROQ: appareil amélioré pour l'échantillonnage quantitatif étagé de al petite faune nageuse au voisinage du fond. Internationale Revue der Gesamten Hydrobiologie 63, 815–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabral, H., Lopes, M. and Loeper, R. (2002) Trophic niche overlap between flatfishes in a nursery area on the Portuguese coast. Scientia Marina 66, 293–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callaway, R., Alsvåg, J., de Boois, I., Cotter, J., Ford, A., Hinz, H., Jennings, S., Kröncke, I., Lancaster, J., Piet, G., Prince, P. and Ehrich, S. (2002) Diversity and community structure of epibenthic invertebrates and fish in the North Sea. ICES Journal of Marine Science 59, 1199–1214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannicci, S., Gomei, M., Dahdouh-Guebas, F., Rorandelli, R. and Terllizzi, A. (2007) Influence of seasonal food abundance and quality on the feeding habits of an opportunistic feeder, the intertidal crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus. Marine Biology 151, 1331–1342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartes, J.E. and Sorbe, J.C. (1998) Aspects of population structure and feeding ecology of the deep-water mysid Boreomysis arctica, a dominant species in western Mediterranean slope assemblages. Journal of Plankton Research 20, 2273–2290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartes, J.E., Grémare, A., Maynou, F., Villora-Moreno, S. and Dinet, A. (2002) Bathymetric changes in the distributions of particulate organic matter and associated fauna along a deep-sea transect down the catalan sea slope (Northwestern Mediterranean). Progress in Oceanography 53, 29–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartes, J.E., Papiol, V., Palanques, A., Guillén, J. and Demestre, M. (2007) Dynamics of suprabenthos off the Ebro Delta (Catalan Sea, Western Mediterranean): spatial and temporal patterns and relationships with environmental factors. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 75, 501–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castriota, L., Scarabello, M.P., Finoia, M.G., Sinopoli, M. and Andaloro, F. (2005) Food and feeding habits of pearly razorfish, Xyrichtys novacula (Linnaeus, 1758), in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea: variation by sex and size. Environmental Biology of Fishes 72, 123–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, K.R. (1993) Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Australian Journal of Ecology 18, 117–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, K.R. and Warwick, R.M. (1995) Change in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation. Natural Environment Research Council, UK, 144 pp.Google Scholar
Collie, J., Escanero, G. and Valentine, P. (1997) Effects of bottom fishing on the benthic megafauna of Georges Bank. Marine Ecology Progress Series 155, 159–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collie, J.S., Hall, S.J., Kaiser, M.J. and Poiner, I.R. (2000) A quantitative analysis of fishing impacts on shelf–sea benthos. Journal of Animal Ecology 69, 785–798.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colloca, F., Carpentieri, P., Balestri, E. and Ardizzone, G.D. (2004) A critical habitat for Mediterranean fish resources: shelf-break areas with Leptometra phalangium (Echinodermata: Crinoidea). Marine Biology 145, 1129–1142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connel, J.H. (1978) Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Science 199, 1302–1310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, M.J. (1988) Ecologie alimentaire des poissons de l'estuaire du Tage. Cybium 12, 301–320.Google Scholar
D'Anna, G. and Pipitone, C. (2007) Prede e predatori della triglia di fango Mullus barbatus L: un approccio con gli isotopi stabili di carbonio e azoto. Research Project MIPAF: Final report.Google Scholar
Darnaude, A.M., Harmelin-Vivien, M.L. and Salen-Picard, C. (2001) Food partitioning among flatfish (Pisces: Pleuronectiforms) juveniles in a Mediterranean coastal shallow sandy area. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 81, 119–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darnaude, A.M., Salen-Picard, C. and Harmelin-Vivien, M.L. (2004) Depth variation in terrestrial particulate organic matter exploitation by marine coastal benthic communities off the Rhone River delta (NW Mediterranean). Marine Ecology Progress Series 275, 47–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Groot, S.G. (1971) On the interrelationships between morphology of the alimentary tract, food and feeding behaviour in flatfishes (Pisces: Pleuronectiformes) Netherlands Journal of Sea Research 5, 121–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Juan, S., Thrush, S.F. and Demestre, M. (2007) Functional changes as indicators of trawling disturbance on a benthic community located in a fishing ground (NW Mediterranean Sea). Marine Ecology Progress Series 334, 117–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fanelli, E. (2007) Trophic relationships in demersal communities of western Mediterranean: case studies from coastal and deep-sea ecosystems. PhD Thesis. University of Viterbo, Italy. Available online at http://dspace.unitus.it/bitstream/2067/569/1/efanelli_tesid.pdf.Google Scholar
Fanelli, E. and Cartes, J.E. (2008) Spatio-temporal changes in gut contents and stable isotopes in two deep Mediterranean pandalids: influence on the reproductive cycle. Marine Ecology Progress Series 355, 219–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferry, L.A. and Caillet, G.M. (1996) Sample size and data analysis: are we characterizing and comparing diet properly? In MacKinlay, D. and Shearer, K. (eds) Feeding ecology and nutrition in fish. Symposium Proceedings. San Francisco, CA: American Fisheries Society, pp. 71–80.Google Scholar
Gibson, R.N. and Ezzi, I.A. (1980) The biology of the scaldfish, Arnoglossus laterna (Walbaum) on the west coast of Scotland. Journal of Fish Biology 17, 565–575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, R.N. and Ezzi, I.A. (1987) Feeding relationships of a demersal fish assemblage on the west coast of Scotland. Journal of Fish Biology 31, 55–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiddink, J.G., Jennings, S., Kaiser, M.J., Queirós, A.M., Duplisea, D.E. and Piet, G.J. (2006) Cumulative impacts of seabed trawl disturbance on benthic biomass, production and species richness in different habitats. Canadian Journal of Fishery and Aquatic Science 63, 721–736.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hulbert, S.H. (1978) The measurement of niche overlap and some relatives. Ecology 59, 67–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyslop, E.P. (1980) Stomach contents analysis, a review of methods and their application. Journal of Fish Biology 17, 411–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, S. and Kaiser, M. (1998) The effects of fishing on marine ecosystems. Advances in Marine Biology 34, 201–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, S., Dimore, T.A., Duplisea, D.D., Warr, K.J. and Lancaster, J.E. (2001) Trawling disturbance can modify benthic production processes. Journal of Animal Ecology 70, 459–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, S., Greenstreet, S.P.R., Hill, L., Piet, G.J., Pinnegar, J.K. and Warr, K. (2002) Long-term trends in the trophic structure of the North Sea fish community: evidence from stable-isotope analysis, size-spectra and community metrics. Marine Biology 141, 1085–1097.Google Scholar
Kaiser, M.J., Edwards, D.B., Armstrong, P.J., Radford, K., Lough, N.E.L., Flatt, R.P. and Jones, H.D. (1998) Changes in megafaunal benthic communities in different habitats after trawling. ICES Journal of Marine Science 55, 353–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, M.J., Spence, F.E. and Hart, P.J.B. (2000a) Fishing gear restrictions and conservation of benthic habitat complexity. Conservation Biology 14, 1512–1525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, M.J., Ramsay, K., Richardson, C.A., Spence, F.E. and Brand, A.R. (2000b) Chronic fishing disturbance has changed shelf sea benthic community structure. Journal of Animal Ecology 69, 494–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, M.J., Collie, J.S., Hall, S.J., Jennings, S. and Poiner, I.R. (2002) Modification of marine habitat by trawling activities: prognosis and solutions. Fish and Fisheries 3, 114–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, M.J., Clarke, K.R., Hinz, H., Austen, M.C.V., Somerfield, P.J. and Karakassis, I. (2006) Global analysis of response and recovery of benthic biota to fishing. Marine Ecology Progress Series 311, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krebs, C.J. (1989) Ecological methodology. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 654 pp.Google Scholar
Ligas, A. (2005) Study of the impact of trawl fishing on benthic communities in the northern Adriatic Sea. PhD thesis. University of Pisa, Italy.Google Scholar
Mauchline, J. (1980) The biology of mysids and euphausiids. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Mees, J. and Jones, M.B. (1997) The hyperbenthos. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 35, 221–255.Google Scholar
Minagawa, M. and Wada, E. (1984) Stepwise enrichment of 15N along food chains: further evidence and the relation between δ15N and animal age. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48, 1135–1140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norse, E. and Watling, L. (1999) Impacts of mobile fishing gear: the biodiversity perspective. In Benaka, L. (ed.) Fish habitat: essential fish habitat and rehabilitation. Bethesda, MD: American Fisheries Society, pp. 31–40.Google Scholar
Palanques, A., Guillén, J. and Puig, P. (2001) Impact of bottom trawling on water turbidity and muddy sediment of an unfished continental shelf. Limnology and Oceanography 46, 1100–1110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérès, J.M. (1982) Major benthic assemblages. In Kinne, O. (ed.) Marine Ecology 5, 373–522.Google Scholar
Pérès, J.M. and Picard, J. (1964) Nouveau manuel de bionomie benthique de la Mer Méditerranée. Recueil des Travaux de la Station Marine d'Endoume 31, 1–137.Google Scholar
Pinkas, L., Oliphant, M.S. and Iverson, I.L.K. (1971) Food habits of albacore, bluefin tuna, and bonito in California waters. Fishery Bulletin 152, 1–105.Google Scholar
Pinnegar, J.K. and Polunin, N.V.C. (1999) Differential fractionation of δ13C and δ15N among fish tissues: implications for the study of trophic interactions. Functional Ecology 13, 225–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinnegar, J.K., Polunin, N.V.C., Francour, P., Badalamenti, F., Chemello, R., Harmelin-Vivien, M.L., Hereu, B., Milazzo, M., Zabala, M., D'Anna, G. and Pipitone, C. (2000) Trophic cascades in benthic marine ecosystems: lessons for fisheries and protected-area management. Environmental Conservation 27, 179–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinnegar, J.K., Jennings, S., O'Brien, C.M. and Polunin, N.V.C. (2002) Long-term changes in the trophic level of the Celtic Sea fish community and fish market price distribution. Journal of Applied Ecology 39, 377–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pipitone, C., Badalamenti, F., D'Anna, G. and Patti, B. (2000a) Fish biomass increase after a four-year trawl ban in the Gulf of Castellammare (NW Sicily, Mediterranean Sea). Fishery Research 48, 23–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pipitone, C., Badalamenti, F., D'Anna, G., Whitmarsh, D., James, C. and Pickering, H. (2000b) Trawling ban in the Gulf of Castellammare: effects on the small-scale fishery economics and on the abundance of fish. Final report to EC-DGXIV of Study 97/063. 117 pp. +appendices, figures and tables.Google Scholar
Post, D.M. (2002) Using stable isotopes to estimate trophic position: models, methods, and assumptions. Ecology 83, 703–718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanchez, F. and Olaso, I. (2004) Effects of fisheries on the Cantabrian Sea shelf ecosystem. Ecological Modelling 172, 151–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, C.J., Rumohr, H., Karakassis, I. and Papadopoulou, K.N. (2003) Analysing the impact of bottom trawls on sedimentary seabeds with sediment profile imagery. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 285–286, 479–496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sweeting, C.J., Badalamenti, F., D'Anna, G., Pipitone, C. and Polunin, N.V.C. (in press) Steeper biomass-spectra of demersal fish communities in a Sicilian Trawler Exclusion. ICES Journal of Marine Science.Google Scholar
Turner, S.J., Thrush, S.F., Hewitt, J.E., Cummings, V.J. and Funnell, G. (1999) Fishing impacts and the degradation or loss of habitat structure. Fish Management Ecology 6, 401–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thrush, S.F. and Dayton, P.K. (2002) Disturbance to marine benthic habitats by trawling and dredging: implications for marine biodiversity. Annual Reviews of Ecology and Systematics 33, 449–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thrush, S.F., Hewitt, J., Cummings, V., Dayton, P., Cryer, M. and Turner, S. (1998) Disturbance of the marine benthic habitat by commercial fishing: impacts at the scale of the fishery. Ecological Applications 8, 866–879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Underwood, A.J. (1997) Experiments in ecology: their logical design and interpretation using analysis of variance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 504 pp.Google Scholar