Trophic Relations of Lesser-Spotted Catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) and Blackmouth Catshark (Galeus melastomus) in the Cantabrian Sea.
The feeding habits of Scyliorhinus canicula and Galeus melastomus were investigated by analysing the stomach contents from 6 036 individuals collected on research surveys in the southern region of the Bay of Biscay during the autumns of 1988–2001. These catshark species are the most abundant scylior...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2005 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/326791 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/326791 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Centro Oceanográfico de Santander Pesquerías |
| Sumario: | The feeding habits of Scyliorhinus canicula and Galeus melastomus were investigated by analysing the stomach contents from 6 036 individuals collected on research surveys in the southern region of the Bay of Biscay during the autumns of 1988–2001. These catshark species are the most abundant scyliorhinids on the Cantabrian shelf. Their depth ranges partly overlap, although they occur in different habitats. Both catshark species are opportunistic scavengers, with their main prey being fi sh and crustaceans. Diets of the two species overlap; they are most similar in individuals <30 cm total length (TL) where euphausiids are important prey, but, for individuals ≥30 cm TL, fi sh (mainly discarded from trawlers) are important prey. Lesser-spotted catshark are mostly benthic feeders and they feed on a greater diversity of prey than blackmouth catshark, which are more suprabenthic. Resource partitioning between the two species appears to depend on the better vision of the blackmouth catshark, which feeds more in the water column whereas the better developed olfactory sense of the lesser-spotted catshark is an adaptation to benthic feeding. The broad diets of these catshark species and their consumption of fi sh discarded from trawlers may make them good indicators of fi shinginduced change in the Cantabrian Sea ecosystem. |
|---|