Predator size - prey size relationships of marine fish predators: interspecific variation and effects of ontogeny and body size on trophic-niche breadth

We utilized a long-term data base collected over a broad geographic range to examine predator size - prey size relationships for 18 species of marine fish predators from continental shelf waters off the northeast US coast. Regression analysis was used to illustrate interspecific variation in ontogenetic patterns of prey size use, gape allometries, and ratio-based trophic niche breadths. Size- based feeding strategies were assessed through comparison of frequency distributions of relative prey sizes eaten and were related to general predator feeding tactics and gape morphology. The results demonstrated that the range of prey sizes eaten expanded with increasing predator body size for each of the marine predators examined, leading to asymmetric predator size - prey size distribu- tions. Absolute maximum prey size and slopes of maximum prey size versus predator size varied widely among predator taxa. Distinct size-based feeding strategies were evident, as diets of some predators were dominated by prey that were 10 to 20% of predator size, whereas other predators frequently consumed prey >50% of predator size. Gape sizes and allometric relationships with body size were also diverse among predators and often were closely associated with maximum prey sizes. Ratio-based trophic-niche breadths generally did not expand with predator ontogeny and tended to narrow for the largest predators, which may be common for animal taxa.

[1]  M. H. Olson,et al.  Size-Dependent Alewife Predation on Larval Walleyes in Laboratory Experiments , 1998 .

[2]  G. J. Piet,et al.  On factors structuring the flatfish assemblage in the southern North Sea , 1998 .

[3]  B. Letcher,et al.  Effects of a Delayed Onset of Piscivory on the Size of Age-0 Bluefish , 1998 .

[4]  F. Juanes,et al.  Predation by juvenile piscivorous bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix): the influence of prey to predator size ratio and prey type on predator capture success and prey profitability , 1998 .

[5]  G. Mittelbach,et al.  The ontogeny of piscivory and its ecological consequences , 1998 .

[6]  Francis Juanes,et al.  INFERRING ECOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS FROM THE EDGES OF SCATTER DIAGRAMS: COMPARISON OF REGRESSION TECHNIQUES , 1998 .

[7]  P. Munk.  Prey size spectra and prey availability of larval and small juvenile cod , 1997 .

[8]  P. Pepin,et al.  Patterns of prey size and taxonomic composition in larval fish: are there general size-dependent models? , 1997 .

[9]  E. R. Keeley,et al.  Allometry of diet selectivity in juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) , 1997 .

[10]  T. Ellis,et al.  Predation of 0-group flatfishes by 0-group cod: handling times and size selection , 1997 .

[11]  A. Eleftheriou,et al.  The foraging ecology of two pairs of congeneric demersal fish species: importance of morphological characteristics in prey selection , 1997 .

[12]  B. Christensen.  Predator foraging capabilities and prey antipredator behaviours : pre- versus postcapture constraints on size-dependent predator-prey interactions , 1996 .

[13]  J. Andersson,et al.  Size‐Specific Interactions in Lake Systems: Predator Gape Limitation and prey Growth Rate and Mortality , 1996 .

[14]  F. Juanes,et al.  Size-structured piscivory: advection and the linkage between predator and prey recruitment in young-of-the-year bluefish , 1995 .

[15]  J. Breck,et al.  Foraging Theory and Piscivorous Fish: Are Forage Fish Just Big Zooplankton? , 1993 .

[16]  L. Crowder,et al.  Interactions between Size-Structured Predator and Prey Populations: Experimental Test and Model Comparison , 1993 .

[17]  A. D. Buijse,et al.  Piscivory, Growth, and Size-Selective Mortality of Age 0 Pikeperch (Stizostedion lucioperca) , 1992 .

[18]  K. Hambright,et al.  Experimental Analysis of Prey Selection by Largemouth Bass: Role of Predator Mouth Width and Prey Body Depth , 1991 .

[19]  L. Fuiman,et al.  The role of the sensory systems of herring larvae in evading predatory fishes , 1990, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[20]  Robert W. Blake,et al.  Energetics of piscivorous predator-prey interactions , 1988 .

[21]  L. Crowder,et al.  Larval Size and Recruitment Mechanisms in Fishes: Toward a Conceptual Framework , 1988 .

[22]  A. Keast,et al.  The effect of prey morphology and size on handling time in a piscivore, the largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) , 1987 .

[23]  C. Greene.  Patterns of Prey Selection: Implications of Predator Foraging Tactics , 1986, The American Naturalist.

[24]  E. Marschall,et al.  USING TIME AND ENERGETIC MEASURES OF COST IN ESTIMATING PREY VALUE FOR FISH PREDATORS , 1984 .

[25]  G. Mittelbach.  Foraging Efficiency and Body Size: A Study of Optimal Diet and Habitat Use by Bluegills , 1981 .

[26]  R. Stein,et al.  Predation by Pellet-Reared Tiger Muskellunge on Minnows and Bluegills in Experimental Systems , 1981 .

[27]  M. Kislalioglu,et al.  Prey ‘handling time’ and its importance in food selection by the 15-spined stickleback, Spinachia spinachia (L.) , 1976 .

[28]  Webb Pw,et al.  The effect of size on the fast-start performance of rainbow trout Salmo cairdneri, and a consideration of piscivorous predator-prey interactions. , 1976 .

[29]  E. Charnov.  Optimal foraging, the marginal value theorem. , 1976, Theoretical population biology.

[30]  D. Wilson.  The Adequacy of Body Size as a Niche Difference , 1975, The American Naturalist.

[31]  S. R. Kerr,et al.  Theory of Size Distribution in Ecological Communities , 1974 .

[32]  E. Werner.  The Fish Size, Prey Size, Handling Time Relation in Several Sunfishes and Some Implications , 1974 .

[33]  D. J. Hall,et al.  Optimal Foraging and the Size Selection of Prey by the Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis Macrochirus) , 1974 .

[34]  Jonathan Roughgarden,et al.  Niche Width: Biogeographic Patterns Among Anolis Lizard Populations , 1974, The American Naturalist.

[35]  Jonathan Roughgarden,et al.  Evolution of Niche Width , 1972, The American Naturalist.

[36]  R. W. Sheldon,et al.  The Size Distribution of Particles in the OCEAN1 , 1972 .

[37]  T. Schoener.  Theory of Feeding Strategies , 1971 .

[38]  D. J. Hall,et al.  AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH TO THE PRODUCTION DYNAMICS AND STRUCTURE OF FRESHWATER ANIMAL COMMUNITIES1 , 1970 .

[39]  Thomas W. Schoener,et al.  Some Niche Differences in Three Lesser Antillean Lizards of the Genus Anolis , 1968 .

[40]  Allen Keast,et al.  Mouth and Body Form Relative to Feeding Ecology in the Fish Fauna of a Small Lake, Lake Opinicon, Ontario , 1966 .

[41]  S. Dodson,et al.  Predation, Body Size, and Composition of Plankton. , 1965, Science.

[42]  V. S. Ivlev,et al.  Experimental ecology of the feeding of fishes , 1962 .

[43]  J. Nichols,et al.  Fishes of the Gulf of Maine , 1925 .

[44]  B. Cade,et al.  Estimating effects of limiting factors with regression quantiles , 1999 .

[45]  Adam P. Summers,et al.  Enhancing diet analyses of piscivorous fishes in the Northwest Atlantic through identification and reconstruction of original prey sizes from ingested remains , 1998 .

[46]  I. Potter,et al.  Analysis of diet and feeding strategies within an assemblage of estuarine larval fish and an objective assessment of dietary niche overlap , 1997 .

[47]  E. Houde.  Patterns and consequences of selective processes in teleost early life histories , 1997 .

[48]  F. Juanes,et al.  Piscivory and prey size selection in young-of-the-year bluefish: predator preference or size-dependent capture success? , 1994 .

[49]  P. Munk.  Foraging behaviour and prey size spectra of larval herring Clupea harengus , 1992 .

[50]  W. C. Leggett,et al.  Age and size-selective predation on larval fishes: the bigger-is-better hypothesis revisited , 1992 .

[51]  A. Sih,et al.  Interacting Effects of Predator and Prey Behavior in Determining Diets , 1990 .

[52]  L. Persson.  Predicting Ontogenetic Niche Shifts in the Field: What can be Gained by Foraging Theory? , 1990 .

[53]  Paul J. B. Hart,et al.  The Role of Behaviour and Morphology in the Selection of Prey by Pike , 1990 .

[54]  R. Lukatelich,et al.  Ratio-based trophic niche breadths of fish, the Sheldon spectrum, and the size-efficiency hypothesis , 1986 .

[55]  J. Hunter,et al.  SIZE-SPECIFIC VULNERABILITY OF NORTHERN ANCHOVY, ENGRAULIS MORDAX, LARVAE TO PREDATION BY FISHES , 1986 .

[56]  J. Blaxter,et al.  Ninth Larval Fish Conference , 1986 .

[57]  C. Greene.  Planktivore functional groups and patterns of prey selection in pelagic communities , 1985 .

[58]  C. Greene.  Selective Predation in Freshwater Zooplankton Communities , 1983 .

[59]  G. Sedberry.  Food habits and trophic relationships of a community of fishes on the outer continental shelf , 1983 .

[60]  J. Hunter.  Feeding ecology and predation of marine fish larvae [California]. , 1981 .

[61]  L. Nielsen.  Effect of Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) Predation on Juvenile Mortality and Recruitment of Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) in Oneida Lake, New York , 1980 .

[62]  K. Denman,et al.  The structure of pelagic marine ecosystems. , 1978 .

[63]  J. Gerritsen,et al.  Encounter Probabilities and Community Structure in Zooplankton: a Mathematical Model , 1977 .

[64]  D. Eggers,et al.  The Nature of Prey Selection by Planktivorous Fish , 1977 .

[65]  P W Webb,et al.  The effect of size on the fast-start performance of rainbow trout Salmo cairdneri, and a consideration of piscivorous predator-prey interactions. , 1976, The Journal of experimental biology.

[66]  F. James Rohlf,et al.  Biometry: The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research , 1969 .

[67]  W.,et al.  NMFS SSRF-749 ^ ' " ' WfNTOfCO ' " Food of Eight Northwest Atlantic Pleuronectiform Fishes , 2022 .