TY - JOUR

T1 - Cryptic diets of forage fish: jellyfish consumption observed in the Celtic Sea and western English Channel

AU - Lamb, Philip D.

AU - Hunter, Ewan

AU - Pinnegar, John K.

AU - van der Kooij, Jeroen

AU - Creer, Simon

AU - Taylor, Martin I.

N1 - © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

PY - 2019/6/26

Y1 - 2019/6/26

N2 - To establish if fishes' consumption of jellyfish changes through the year, we conducted a molecular gut-content assessment on opportunistically sampled species from the Celtic Sea in October and compared these with samples previously collected in February and March from the Irish Sea. Mackerel Scomber scombrus were found to feed on hydrozoan jellyfish relatively frequently in autumn, with rare consumption also detected in sardine Sardina pilchardus and sprat Sprattus sprattus. By October, moon jellyfish Aurelia aurita appeared to have escaped predation, potentially through somatic growth and the development of stinging tentacles. This is in contrast with sampling in February and March where A. aurita ephyrae were heavily preyed upon. No significant change in predation rate was observed in S. sprattus, but jellyfish predation by S. scombrus feeding in autumn was significantly higher than that seen during winter. This increase in consumption appears to be driven by the consumption of different, smaller jellyfish species than were targeted during the winter.

AB - To establish if fishes' consumption of jellyfish changes through the year, we conducted a molecular gut-content assessment on opportunistically sampled species from the Celtic Sea in October and compared these with samples previously collected in February and March from the Irish Sea. Mackerel Scomber scombrus were found to feed on hydrozoan jellyfish relatively frequently in autumn, with rare consumption also detected in sardine Sardina pilchardus and sprat Sprattus sprattus. By October, moon jellyfish Aurelia aurita appeared to have escaped predation, potentially through somatic growth and the development of stinging tentacles. This is in contrast with sampling in February and March where A. aurita ephyrae were heavily preyed upon. No significant change in predation rate was observed in S. sprattus, but jellyfish predation by S. scombrus feeding in autumn was significantly higher than that seen during winter. This increase in consumption appears to be driven by the consumption of different, smaller jellyfish species than were targeted during the winter.

KW - Animals

KW - Diet

KW - Fishes/physiology

KW - Perciformes/physiology

KW - Predatory Behavior

KW - Scyphozoa

KW - Seasons

U2 - 10.1111/jfb.13926

DO - 10.1111/jfb.13926

M3 - Article

C2 - 30746684

VL - 94

SP - 1026

EP - 1032

JO - Journal of Fish Biology

JF - Journal of Fish Biology

SN - 0022-1112

IS - 6

ER -