Identification of some common food items in the guts of fish larvae and juveniles in the Black Sea
##plugins.themes.ibsscustom.article.main##
Google Scholar
##plugins.themes.ibsscustom.article.details##
Abstract
Over the past decade the positive trends in the average annual number of fish larvae and in the copepod population dynamics in the coastal area of the Black Sea agree. The increased fish larvae abundance is hypothesized due to improvement of their nutrition associated with the drastic increase in number of introduced invasive cyclopoid copepod Oithona davisae. This assumption is difficult to be verified through fish gut content analysis in absence of methodology allowing prey species identification from their fragmentary residual remnants. Our paper offers an original approach to identification of several common copepod prey using specific distinctive features detected on their chitin fragments from guts of fish larvae and juveniles. To identify specific features of the common species from the coastal areas off Sevastopol (Acartia tonsa, Oithona davisae, Longipedia sp., Cyclopina sp.), alive copepods were isolated from the samples and reared as monospecific cultures in laboratory. Images of alive copepods of each species at successive stages of development and their moulted exoskeletons were compared with the images of chitin remnants found in the fish guts. This technique discloses relatively intact specific morphological features remaining undigested in chitin fragments of prey. These species-specific taxonomic features are suggested to be used for trophic analysis of the Black Sea fishes at early stages of development. Application of proposed method is helpful for assessment of qualitative and quantitative composition of consumed prey and selectivity of fish, especially during the changes in zooplankton community structure affecting significantly survival of fish generations.
Authors
References
Altukhov D., Gubanova A., Mukhanov V. New invasive copepod Oithona davisae Ferrari and Orsi, 1984: seasonal dynamics in Sevastopol Bay and expansion along the Black Sea coasts. Marine Ecology, 2014, vol. 35, iss. s1, pp. 28–34.
Borutsky E. V. Opredelitel' svobodnozhivushchikh presnovodnykh veslonogikh rakov SSSR i sopredel'nykh stran po fragmentam v kishechnikakh ryb [Guide for identification of free-living freshwater copepods of the USSR and nearest countries on the basis of their fragments in the fish guts]. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, 1960, 217 p. (in Russ.).
Burrow J., Horwood J., Pitchford J. The importance of variable timing and abundance of prey for fish larval recruitment. Journal of Plankton Research, 2011, vol. 33, iss. 8, pp. 1153-1162.
Collins T. J. Introduction to ImageJ for light microscopy. Microscopy and Microanalysis, 2007, vol. 13, iss. S02, pp. 1674-1675.
Datsyk N. A., Romanova Z. A., Finenko G. A., Abolmasova G. I., Anninsky B. E. Structure of zooplankton community in the coastal waters of Crimea (Sevastopol region) and trophic relationships in the food chain zooplankton - Mnemiopsis in 2004-2008. Morskoj ecologicheskij zhurnal, 2012, vol. 11, № 2, pp. 28-38. (in Russ.).
Dekhnik T. V. Ikhtioplankton Chernogo morja / ed. V. A. Vodyanitsky [Ichtyoplankton of the Black Sea. V. A. Vodyanitsky (ed.)]. Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1973, 234 p. (in Russ.).
Duka L. A., Sinyukova V. I. Rukovodstvo po izucheniju pitanija lichinok i mal'kov morskikh ryb v estestvennykh i eksperimental'nykh uslovijakh [Guide for study of fish larvae and juveniles feeding in natural and experimental conditions]. Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1976, 110 p.
Ferrari F., Orsi J. Oithona davisae, new species, and Limnoithona sinensis (Burkckhard, 1912) (Copepoda: Oithonidae) from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary, California. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 1984, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 106–126. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1547900.
Gubanova A., Altukhov D, Popova E., Vdodovich I., Klimova T. Trends and changes in mesozooplankton of the Black Sea coastal area as the food source of fish larvae. In: Marine Research Horizon 2020: Abstracts of International Conference (Varna, Bulgaria, 17-20 Sept. 2013). Varna: Helix Press Ltd., 2013. pp. 144.
Opredelitel’ fauny Chernogo i Azovskogo morei: in 3 vol. Vol. 2: Svobodnozhivushchie bespozvonochnye. Rakoobraznye [Identification keys to the fauna of the Black and Azov seas. Vol. 2. Crustaceans]. Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1969, 536 p. (in Russ.).
Sazhina L. I. Naupliusy massovykh vidov pelagicheskikh copepod mirovogo okeana [Nauplii of common pelagic copepods species of the World Ocean. The Guide]. Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1985, 238 p.
Shuvalov V. S. Veslonogie rachki-tsiklopoidy semeistva Oithonidae Mirovogo okeana [Calanoida Copepoda family Oithonidae of the World Ocean]. Leningrad: Nauka, 1980, 198 p. (Opredeliteli po faune SSSR / Zoologichesky Institut AN SSSR ; vol. 125.). (in Russ.).
Svetlichny L., Hubareva E., Khanaychenko A., Gubanova A., Altukhov D., Besiktepe S. Adaptive strategy of thermophilic Oithona davisae in the cold Black Sea environment. Turkish Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences., 2016, vol. 16, iss. 1, pp. 77-90. doi: 10.4194/1303-2712-v16_1_09.
Takahashi T., Uchiyama I. Morphology of the naupliar stages of some Oithona species (Copepoda: Cyclopoida) occurring in Toyama Bay, southern Japan Sea. Plankton and Benthos Research, 2007, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 12-27.
Temnykh A., Nishida S. New record of the planktonic copepod Oithona davisae Ferrari and Orsi in the Black Sea with notes on the identity of ‘Oithona brevicornis’. Aquatic Invasions, 2012, vol. 7, iss. 3, pp. 425–431. http://dx.doi.org/10.3391/ai.2012.7.3.013.
Turner J. T. The importance of small planktonic copepods and their roles in pelagic marine food webs. Zoological Studies, 2004, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 255-266.
Vdodovich I. V., Khanaychenko A. N., Giragosov V. E. Feeding of mugilidae 0-group in the coastal and open waters off Sevastopol in August-September 2013 and evaluation of alien copepod Oithona davisae as a diet component. Journal of Siberian Federal University, Ser. Biology, 2017. In press.
