Description of diet of pelagic fish in the southwestern Atlantic, Brazil

Authors

  • Guilherme Rossi Gorni Centro Universitário de Araraquara, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde
  • Roberto Goitein Universidade Estadual Paulista, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Zoologia
  • Alberto Ferreira de Amorim Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo, Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios, Instituto de Pesca

Keywords:

top predators, diet composition, longline fishery, stomach content analysis

Abstract

This study reveals the food composition of pelagic fishes living in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. As such more common pelagic species are considered to be top predators, the study proposes to know what constitutes their main food. Fish are not commonly found within their stomach contents, but instead, cephalopods are their most common food. As can be observed, Teuthida cephalopods compose their principal diet. The stomach contents of specimens of Xiphias gladius, Thunnus albacares, T. obesus, T. alalunga, Isurus oxyrinchus and Alopias superciliosus caught during July 2007 to June 2009 by using tuna longliners were studied. Teuthida cephalopods constitute the main food item for the three tuna species, while X. gladius feeds mainly on Ommastrephidae cephalopods. Though the differences among the kinds of cephalopods exist, they constitute the principal resource these fish use to live at least in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

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Published

2013-03-01

How to Cite

Gorni, G. R., Goitein, R., & Amorim, A. F. de. (2013). Description of diet of pelagic fish in the southwestern Atlantic, Brazil. Biota Neotropica, 13(1). Retrieved from //www.biotaneotropica.org.br/BN/article/view/1053

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