Age, Growth, and Food of the Oyster Toadfish near Solomons, Maryland

Schwartz, Frank J.; Dutcher, Ben W.

doi:10.1577/1548-8659(1963)92[170:agafot]2.0.co;2

Cited by 31 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…The prey was retained in the mouth of the toadfish for approximately 1·s before being expelled. Lateral line sensitivity in toadfish predominately ambush predators that prey largely upon crustaceans and small fish (Chrobot, 1959;Schwartz and Dutcher, 1963;McDermott, 1964;Phillips and Swears, 1979;Wilson et al, 1982;Price and Mensinger, 1999;. Field and laboratory observations indicate that toadfish spend the majority of their time in small caves or crevices with their head facing outward and will often remain motionless prior to launching a ballistic strike at nearby prey.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity of the anterior lateral line to natural stimuli in the oyster toadfish,Opsanus tau(Linnaeus)

Palmer

Deffenbaugh

Mensinger

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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toadfish (28·cm standard length; 33·cm total length) were only able to detect mobile prey that approached within approximately 40% of their body length. Both spontaneously active and silent afferent fibers also experienced a dramatic increase in firing during predatory strikes, indicating that the fibers were not inhibited during rapid body movement. This study investigates, for the first time, the neural response of the anterior lateral line to prey stimuli in free-ranging fish.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity of the anterior lateral line to natural stimuli in the oyster toadfish,Opsanus tau(Linnaeus)

Palmer

Deffenbaugh

Mensinger

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Toadfish have been reported to prey upon a variety of molluscs and crustaceans common to the fouling community (Schwartz and Dutcher 1963), and were used here as agents of patch formation in the system. The activities of the toadfish represented a more-or-less continuous disturbance to the fouling community throughout the period of their confinement in the cages, and they can be maintained in the system year-round.…”

Section: Experimental (Lesiglnmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Empirical Test of Community Stability: Resistance of a Fouling Community to a Biological Patch‐Forming Disturbance

Smedes¹,

Hurd²

1981

Ecology

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Stability, defined as resistance to external perturbation, was evaluated for two developmental stages of an estuarine subtidal fouling community subjected to a biological patch—forming disturbance. Three stability criteria: (1) magnitude of response, (2) rate of response, and (3) recovery, were assessed on the basis of differences between control and perturbed panel communities with respect to physical structure (percent bare substrate, and sessile species volume), species richness (S), evenness (VH'), interaction diversity (H'), and community similarity, over time. Both motile and sessile species assemblages were examined, and responses of individual species were also determined. The older fouling community was found to be less stable than the younger one in terms of both measures of physical structure, for all three stability criteria. This was also true for species richness. Differences in evenness and H' between control and perturbed communities showed no consistent trend in this regard, and motile and sessile species exhibited different degrees of response. Multiple discriminant analysis indicated that fewer species contributed to the discriminant function in the younger community than in the older one. Community similarity between control and perturbed panel communities was lower overall for the older community. Individual species responses that contributed to these effects were examined. The results of our study, as well as an examination of other empirical evidence from the literature, reveal a lack of consistent support for traditional hypotheses of community stability. We conclude that evolutionary pressures, and resulting ecological strategies, are more important in determining community resistance stability than statistical properties such as species diversity.

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“…Sex‐specific growth trajectory plots were generated (Fig. 5) for O. beta (this study) and O. tau (Schwartz & Dutcher, 1963; Radtke et al , 1985). The O. tau trajectories of Schwartz & Dutcher (1963) and Radtke et al (1985) generally tracked one another; growth curve differences between these two studies can probably be attributed to differences in methodology (vertebrae v .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To determine whether L T ‐at‐age curves differed significantly by sex, the likelihood ratio method of Kimura (1980) was used. To reveal general patterns of growth between O. beta and O. tau , estimated growth trajectories from this study were plotted with those reported by Radtke et al (1985) and Schwartz & Dutcher (1963). One‐way ANOVA was used to examine differences in I G among monthly samples.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age and growth of the gulf toadfishOpsanus betabased on otolith increment analysis

Malca

Barimo

Serafy

et al. 2009

Journal of Fish Biology

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In the present study, sagittal otoliths of confirmed male and female specimens of the gulf toadfish Opsanus beta that were collected monthly over the course of a year from Biscayne Bay, Florida, U.S.A. were analysed. The timing and frequency of O. beta spawning seasons are reported by examination of the gonado-somatic index. The estimated ages of males and females ranged from <1 year to 6 and 5 years, respectively. Strong sexual dimorphism in growth was apparent with von Bertalanffy parameter estimates for males of Linfinity=393.8 mm, K=0.30, t0=0.36 and females of Linfinity=201.1 mm, K=0.79, t0=0.47. Comparison with previously published growth trajectories of the more northerly distributed conspecific Opsanus tau showed that O. beta males had a higher growth rate. Female O. beta and O. tau growth trajectories appear similar, with an indication that the former becomes asymptotic at least a year before the latter. Results are discussed in the context of temperature regimes, reproductive energy allocation and waste urea excretion in the two species.

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Age, Growth, and Food of the Oyster Toadfish near Solomons, Maryland

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

Sensitivity of the anterior lateral line to natural stimuli in the oyster toadfish,Opsanus tau(Linnaeus)

Sensitivity of the anterior lateral line to natural stimuli in the oyster toadfish,Opsanus tau(Linnaeus)

An Empirical Test of Community Stability: Resistance of a Fouling Community to a Biological Patch‐Forming Disturbance

Age and growth of the gulf toadfishOpsanus betabased on otolith increment analysis

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