Trophic Ecology of Eight Sympatric Nemipterid Fishes (Nemipteridae) in the Lower Part of the South China Sea

Özet

Trophic ecology of eight species of nemipterid fish including Nemipterus mesoprion, N. hexodon, N. nemurus, N.nematophorus, N. tambuloides, N. peronii, N. furcosus and Scolopsis taeniopterus were studied to investigate their dietcomposition and trophic relationships between them. Our findings revealed that they were specific predators feeding mainlyon shrimp and fish. N. nemurus and N. tambuloides were the most piscivorous species of them all, and N. mesoprion was aspecific shrimp predator. In general, there were highly significant differences of stomach fullness (FL) and average number offood item (AF) among species (P 0.05). The coexistence of these species in the bottom waters of this habitat requires partitioning of available food resources.