Retrospective quantification of estuarine feeding activity by coastally caught marine fishes

Spatial analysis of the trophic interactions between two juvenile fish species and their preys along a coastal–estuarine gradient

“…Feeding flexibility in estuaries and coastal zones allows to exploit peaks of available preys when fishes often need to share resources (Ley et al, 1994). Our conclusions regarding the feeding flexibility of the common sole is in agreement with Leakey (2008aLeakey ( , 2008b who also found such feeding characteristic at the population level. According to these authors, G0 of sole consumed both estuarine and coastal preys whereas older fish mainly consumed marine food items.…”

“…These results suggest that this species easily moves across the habitats, thereby integrating the various δ 13 C signatures of low mobile preys belonging to these habitats. Similar findings were described in the Thames estuary (Leakey et al, 2008a) where estuarine-caught whiting (another gadid species) had intermediate δ 13 C signatures (≈ -18‰), suggesting that whiting moved and fed on preys from estuarine and coastal waters. Similar results were also observed in Netherlands where juveniles of pouting used both estuarine and coastal habitats as nursery grounds (Hamerlynck and Hostens, 1993).…”

Sole larval supply to coastal nurseries: Interannual variability and connectivity at interregional and interpopulation scales

“…This tends to confirm that the effect of river flow on juvenile abundance is due to its effects on the quality of the nursery habitat (i.e., supply of organic matter linked to freshwater input in their food supply chain; Darnaude et al, 2004;Leakey et al, 2008;Kostecki et al, 2010) rather than on the amount of settled larvae.…”

Structure and seasonal variability in fish food webs in a small macrotidal estuary (Canche estuary, Eastern English Channel) based on stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis

“…In addition, there is still a lack of information and confusing conclusions about the main origin of the organic matter that sustains juvenile fish food webs in nursery grounds (Le Pape et al, 2013). For estuaries, some studies (Darnaude et al, 2004;Leakey et al, 2008;Vinagre et al, 2008) indicated that allochthonous organic matter of terrestrial origin predominated, while other studies suggested that marine organic matter predominated (Pasquaud et al, 2008;. Most of these studies were conducted in large estuaries (e.g.…”