Feeding capability of black scraper Thamnaconus modestus on giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai evaluated through field observations and tank experiments

Miyajima-Taga, Yuko; Masuda, Reiji; Yamashita, Yoh

doi:10.1007/s10641-017-0639-5

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 25 publications

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“…To the best of our knowledge, there was no evidence of the host tissue in the gut contents of Trachurus spp. Comparative analyses of three fish species, T. japonicus, Psenopsis anomala and Thamnaconus modestus, associated with jellyfish, showed that, while the two latter species contained jellyfish tissue and nematocysts in their stomachs, T. japonicus did not show traces of their hosts (Kondo et al, 2016;Miyajima et al, 2017). Recently Tilves et al (2018), using stable isotope analyses, suggested that R. pulmo and C. tuberculata could constitute an important contribution to the diet of T. mediterraneus.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trophic ecology of Trachurus mediterraneus juveniles associated with the jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo and Cotylorhiza tuberculata

Mir-Arguimbau

Sabatés

Tilves

2019

Journal of Sea Research

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This study analyses the trophic ecology of the horse mackerel (Trachurus mediterraneus) juveniles associated with two jellyfish species, Rhizostoma pulmo and Cotylorhiza tuberculata, in the NW Mediterranean. The aim was to know whether the natural diet composition of the hosted fish could be influenced by the jellyfish species and to explore if the fish could feed on the host jellyfish. Samplings were carried out off the coast of Barcelona in summer 2011 at depths of up to 10 m. Juveniles associated with C. tuberculata showed a higher feeding incidence and number of ingested prey than those associated with R. pulmo. The relative importance of the different prey varied depending on the jellyfish species with which fish were associated. In juveniles associated with C. tuberculata, the diet was similar to the composition of the ambient zooplankton, with the cladocera Evadne spp. and Calanoida copepods as the most important prey. However, juveniles associated with R. pulmo fed mainly on Calanoida and Harpacticoida copepods. These differences could be related to the depth-associated behaviour of each jellyfish species, with R. pulmo particularly making deeper living plankton accessible to the horse mackerel juveniles. The presence of nematocyst cells in the juvenile gut contents suggests that they fed on the host jellyfish, either directly on the jellyfish tissue or accidentally when they remove the prey captured by the jellyfish oral arms. Our results provide a better understanding of the associations between jellyfish and juvenile fish which can have important effects on fish population dynamics.

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%