Dietary overlap among early juvenile stages in an Antarctic notothenioid fish assemblage at Potter Cove, South Shetland Islands.

MOREIRA, E.; JUARES, M. A.; BARRERA ORO, E. R.

POLAR BIOLOGY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2014 vol. 37 p. 1507 - 1515

0722-4060

To date, studies of food overlap in Antarctic fish have been performed on a mixture of late juvenile and adult stages, leaving the young immature specimens (TL 2.900) and most frequent (% F) prey for all species, although Notothenia coriicepsalso consumed gastropods of the family Littorinidae, mostly Laevilitorina antarctica. Secondary prey were algae for Notothenia rossii and N. coriiceps, calanoid (pelagic)and harpacticoid (benthic) copepods for Trematomus newnesi and the latter copepods and isopods of the family Munnidae for Lepidonotothen nudifrons. The reoccurrenceof prey among fish species was 39.6 % and food overlap between 90 % of species pairs was under 58 %. Because similarly low values of diet overlap were reported for intermediate/advanced juveniles and adults of the same species at the same site, we conclude that there is no difference in the degree of interspecific food overlap and therefore potential competition between the immature and mature fraction of the fish community. Food competition is avoided by resource partitioning along a depth gradient or by different prey species.