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Trophic Relationships of Fishes Occurring Within a Surf Zone Habitat in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

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Trophic Relationships of Fishes Occurring Within a Surf Zone Habitat in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Gulf of Mexico Science Volume 6 Number 2 Number 2 Article 4 10-1983 Trophic Relationships of Fishes Occurring Within a Surf Zone Habitat in the Northern Gulf of Mexico Timothy Modde University of Southern Mississippi Stephen T. Ross University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/goms DOI: 10.18785/negs.0602.04 Recommended Citation Modde, T. and S. T. Ross. 1983. Trophic Relationships of Fishes Occurring Within a Surf Zone Habitat in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Northeast Gulf Science 6 (2). Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/goms/vol6/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Gulf of Mexico Science by an authorized editor of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Modde and Ross: Trophic Relationships of Fishes Occurring Within a Surf Zone Habi Northeast Gulf Science Vol. 6. No. 2, p. 109-120 October 1983 TROPHIC RELATIONSHIPS OF FISHES OCCURRING WITHIN A SURF ZONE HABITAT IN THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO Timothy Modde1 and Stephen T. Ross2 Department of Biology, Box 5018 University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg, MS 39401 Abstract: We studied trophic relationships of Florida pompano (Trachinotus carolinus), gulf kingfish (Menticirrhus littoralis), scaled sardine (Harengu/a jaguana~ striped anchovy (Anchoa hepsetus) and dusky anchovy (A. /yo/epis) during their spring residency in the Horn Island, Mississippi, surf zone. Harengu/a jaguana, A. /yo/epis and A. hepsetus were zooplanktivores, utilizing primarily calanoid copepods, mysids and various decapod larvae. Menticirrhus /it­ toralis and T. caro/inus utilized benthic prey including Donax, Emerita and polychaetes; however, small pompano also fed on zooplankton. Menticirrhus littoralis, T. carolinus, H. jaguana and A. lyo/epis also showed distinct dietary changes with increasing fish size. Three species, A. lyolepis, H. jaguana and M. littoralis fed at least partially at night, while T. carolinus and A. hepsetus were primarily diurnal predators. Cluster analysis of size intervals of all species based on presence or absence of prey taxa formed groups consistent with taxonomic rela­ tionships, thus indicating considerable interspecific resource separation. INTRODUCTION ly dynamic habitat, is characterized by a dynamic ichthyofauna in which different Surf zone regions of the Gulf of Mex­ suites of species may be interacting dai­ ico are important habitats for the juvenile ly and seasonally. stages of many fishes (Gunter 1958; Trophic relationships of fishes in Springer and Woodburn 1960; Naughton surf zone areas are largely unknown even and Saloman 1978; McMichael and Ross though many species, such as pompano 1980; Modde 1980; Modde and Ross (Trachinotus carolinus), gulf kingfish 1981). In general, young fishes occur in (Menticirrhus littoralis), scaled sardine surf zones during the spring and sum­ (Harengu/a jaguana), and mullet (Mugi/ mer, although fall and winter spawned spp.) are of commercial importance. species such as Lagodon rhomboides, Thus, the purpose of our study was to Leiostomus xanthurus, Mugil cepha/us, compare food habits and relationships of or Brevoortia patronus may occupy them the numerically dominant spring-summer during winter and early spring (Modde fishes of the Horn Island, Mississippi, and Ross 1981). In addition to seasonal surf zone. Species selected for analysis periodicity, fishes show diel utilization were: Anchoa /yolepis (dusky anchovy), patterns of surf zones, with the greatest A. hepsetus (striped anchovy), Harengu/a abundance occurring in the early morn­ jaguana (scaled sardine), Trachinotus ing (Modde and Ross 1981). Thus, the carolinus (Florida pompano), and (Men­ surf zone, in addition to being a physical~ ticirrhus littoralis (gulf kingfish). METHODS AND MATERIALS 'Present address: Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, South Dakota State Universi­ ty, Brookings, SD 57007. Sampling stations were in the surf zone habitat along the windward shore 2Visiting Research Professor (1981-1982) Universi­ ty of Oklahoma, Biological Station, Star Rt. B, of Horn Island, Jackson County, Kingston, OK 73439. Mississippi. Horn Island is one of a chain 109 Published by The Aquila Digital Community, 1983 1 Gulf of Mexico Science, Vol. 6 [1983], No. 2, Art. 4 110 T. Mod de and S.T. Ross of barrier islands lying parallel to the surf. Five to nine seine hauls were taken Mississippi-Alabama Gulf coast (Fig. 1). at each location between 0900 and 1500 The island is approximately 14 km off­ CST (see also Modde and Ross 1981). shore, 19 km long and less than 1.2 km Stomach contents of M. littoralis wide. The center of the island is at 30° and H. jaguana were examined for May 14" N and 88° 40' W (Franks 1970). The (N=45, 181), June (N=11, 85) and July windward beach is partially protected (N =37, 59). Stomach contents of T. from oceanic wind driven waves by a carolinus were analyzed for May (N = 150) series of sand bars which extend the and June (N = 28), while stomachs of A. length of the island. The exposed beach hepsetus were examined only for May is characterized by a sand substrate, (N = 127). Stomach contents of A. moderate wave activity, and the absence /yo/epis were studied in May (N =51) and of any rooted vegetation. The four September (N = 101). The September stations (Fig. 1) were located within an data were included due to better environment categorized by Odum and representation of fish within most time Copeland (1974) as a high energy beach periods. The duration for which system. stomachs were collected for the different Fishes were collected with a 9.1 x species was dependent upon the occur­ 1.8 m bag seine with 3.2 mm mesh. The rence of fishes in the surf zone for the net was hauled perpendicular to the spring and summer of 1976. beach face, beginning 16-18 m offshore. Every month between March­ The sampled area was from the swash September 1976 (excluding August) we zone to the midlongshore trough and in­ sampled either Station 1, 3 or 4 over a 24 cluded only areas exposed directly to h period, taking samples at approximate­ ly 4 h intervals. The choice of station was based in part on the availability of a safe anchorage for our boat. Immediately upon capture, fishes were placed in MS 222 to prevent regurgitation and then fixed in 10% For­ malin. Stomach content analysis includ­ ed identification, determination of volume and percent occurrence of prey MISSISSIPPI SOUND items within the stomachs. The section of the alimentary tract examined was that anterior to the pyloric sphincter. We 4 determined the volume of food GULF of MEXICO organisms smaller than .05 cc by a squash technique modified from Hellawell and Abel (1971) by Ross (1974), and the volume of larger food items by displacement. Plots of cumulative taxa versus the number of stomachs examined indicated 10 KM that sample sizes sufficient for descrip­ tion of prey kind were obtained for all Figure 1. Map of the study area on Horn Island, Jackson County, Mississippi. length groups with the exception of the https://aquila.usm.edu/goms/vol6/iss2/4 DOI: 10.18785/negs.0602.04 2 Modde and Ross: Trophic Relationships of Fishes Occurring Within a Surf Zone Habi Trophic relationships of surf zone fishes 111 41-80 mm interval for both M. littora/is Menticirrhus littoralis and T. carolinus. Spearman rank correla­ N= 17/17 21/23 40/40 12/13 tion coefficients (r s) were used to test dif­ HllCYPOO SIPHO~S ferences between the percent occur­ rence of prey among length intervals of fishes. Intraspecific size groups used to examine diel changes in stomach con­ tent volume were selected by volume similarity (a = .05) as determined by ANOVA and Duncan's multiple range test (Nie et a/. 1975). Similarity of diet SL (mm) 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-75 among length intervals for all species Figure 2. Percent volume of the major food items was analyzed by presence/absence of from Menticirrhus littoralis stomachs collected from the surf zone of Horn Island during May prey following the approach in Modde through July 1976. N = number of fish with food and Ross (1981). The clustering algorithm in stomachs/number of fish examined. Percent Similarity 0 25 50 75 100 H. joguono 46"55 - H. joguono 41-45 r- -H. joguono 36-40 H. joguono 31-35 - 1 H. joguono 26-30 A. hepsetus 5r-so A. hepsetus 36-40 A. hepsetus 46-50 ~ A. hepsetus 41-45 -A. lyolepis 41-45 lyolepis 36-40 Planktivores A. A. lyolepis 31-35 H. joguano 21-25 - A. lyolepis 26-30 M. littorolis 41-75 M. littorolis 21-30 I M. I ittoralis 31-40 T. corolinus 31-40 I - I L corolinus 21-30 - M_. li ttoralis 11-20 I· carolinus 11-20 I.: corolinus 41-80 Figure 3. Cluster analysis of ration similarity, based on presence or absence for each length group within Menticirrhus littoralis, Harengula jaguana, Trachinotus carolinus, Anchoa hepsetus, and Anchoa lyolepis. Published by The Aquila Digital Community, 1983 3 Gulf of Mexico Science, Vol. 6 [1983], No. 2, Art. 4 112 T. Modde and S.T. Ross Harengula jaguana was the unweighted pair-group 45/48 62162 56/56 58/59 47 /4~ 52/52 100 arithmetic average (UPGMA) (Sneath and ~!HER OIH(R lOlA Sokal 1973). Fish lengths are given as standard length (SL). ;::; ~ _,:z RESULTS < C.I!JI'C't'~ ~ Ill',•) I~ c: ~ Menticirrhus littoralis Although sample size was low, a change in diet (based on % volume) oc­ 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-55 curred between length groups of M. lit­ Figure 5.
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