Gastric Evacuation in the Juveniles of two Flatfish from a Western Mediterranean Bay |
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| Authors: | L Tito de Morais |
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| Institution: | Laboratoire Arago, F-66650 Banyuls sur Mer, France. |
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| Abstract: | Abstract. The gastric evacuation (at 11 oC and 19 oC) and the relation between prey size and fish size of juveniles of Buglossidium luteum and Arnoglossus thori (Pisces, Heterosomata) are studied. The fish were collected at 20 m depth in the Banyuls Bay (France, Western Mediterranean). B. luteum showed a very rapid evacuation rate at 19 oC (2h to 4h for a IgDW meal) and a slower one at 11oC (9h 30min for a IgDW meal). A. thori showed similar rates at both temperatures (6h 20min to 7 h 30 min for a IgDW meal). The relationship between prey size and predator size showed that A. thori always took larger prey than B. luteum. The diet of the latter changes only slightly with the increasing size of the fish. In contrast, the diet of A. thori changes more rapidly towards larger prey. A hypothesis explaining the contradictory evidence concerning the effect of fish and meal size on gastric evacuation is proposed. |
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| Keywords: | Gastric evacuation predator/prey relationship flatfish |
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