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Seasonal Diet Shifts and Overlap Between Two Sympatric Catfishes in an Estuarine Nursery

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Abstract

This study describes the seasonal feeding habits of different size classes of Cathorops spixii and Cathorops agassizii along an estuarine ecocline and the food overlap when different size classes occur together. These species were essentially zoobenthivorous, feeding mainly on Polychaeta Nereis sp., Copepoda Pseudodiaptomus acutus, Ostracoda Asterope sp., Gastropoda: Littorinidae, and Bivalvia Mytilus sp. and Anomalocardia brasiliana. However, during their life cycle and between different habitats and seasons, their trophic guild can change to zooplanktivore. The competition for resources was observed among C. spixii and C. agassizii, but was significantly reduced due to the seasonal diference in habitat use by different ontogenetic phases in the main channel of the estuary. The food niche separation was strongly influenced by environmental fluctuations, principally of salinity, resulting from rainfall and river inflow. High abundance of some preys, such as P. acutus (all estuary), Asterope sp. (upper and middle estuary), and Littorinidae (upper and lower estuary), could influence the significant diet overlap, principally during the rainy season, and call for more detailed studies of the benthic community structure. Moreover, dietary overlap was observed mainly between smaller sizes (intraspecific and/or interspecific) or between corresponding ontogenetic phases (interspecific), suggesting some differentiation in the diet in relation to the size class. Differences in prey type and size between the different ontogenetic phases of these ariids, principally among juveniles and adults, could be related to the size of the mouth, since adults are able to successfully capture larger preys or larger quantities of particular items.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the financial support of FACEPE (APQ-0586-1.08/06), CNPq (37384/2004-7, 474736/2004, and 482921/2007-2), and CNPq/CT-Hidro (552896/2007-1 and GD-145341/2009-7). MB and MFC are CNPq fellows.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecologia e Gerenciamento de Ecossistemas Costeiros e Estuarinos, Dept. Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Cidade Universitária, Recife, Pernambuco, 50740-550, Brazil

    David Valença Dantas, Mario Barletta, Jonas de Assis Almeida Ramos, André Ricardo Araújo Lima & Monica Ferreira da Costa

  2. Instituto de Ecologia e Gerenciamento de Ecossistemas Aquáticos (IEGEA), P.O. Box 8132, Recife, Pernambuco, 51020-970, Brazil

    David Valença Dantas, Mario Barletta, Jonas de Assis Almeida Ramos, André Ricardo Araújo Lima & Monica Ferreira da Costa

  3. Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Paraíba (IFPB), Campus Cabedelo, Paraíba, 58310-000, Brazil

    Jonas de Assis Almeida Ramos

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  1. David Valença Dantas
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  2. Mario Barletta
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  3. Jonas de Assis Almeida Ramos
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  4. André Ricardo Araújo Lima
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Correspondence to Mario Barletta.

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Dantas, D.V., Barletta, M., de Assis Almeida Ramos, J. et al. Seasonal Diet Shifts and Overlap Between Two Sympatric Catfishes in an Estuarine Nursery. Estuaries and Coasts 36, 237–256 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-012-9563-2

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