Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T10:39:44.228Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diet and feeding strategy of thornback ray, Raja clavata (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae) from the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia—Central Mediterranean Sea)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2014

Hasna Kadri ,
Sondes Marouani ,
Mohamed Nejmeddine Bradai  and
Abderrahmen Bouaïn
Hasna Kadri*
Affiliation:
Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer, Sfax, Tunisia Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
Sondes Marouani
Affiliation:
Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer, Sfax, Tunisia Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
Mohamed Nejmeddine Bradai
Affiliation:
Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer, Sfax, Tunisia
Abderrahmen Bouaïn
Affiliation:
Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: H. Kadri, Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer, Centre de Sfax, B.P. 1035, Sfax 3018, Tunisia email: hasnakadri@yahoo.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Food and feeding strategy of the thornback ray, Raja clavata, were studied from stomach contents analysis of specimens caught monthly in the Gulf of Gabes. The data were analysed according to sex, size and season. At total of 1280 stomachs was examined, from specimens ranging from 14 to 110 cm total length (TL), of which 1076 (83.98%) contained food. Thornback ray feed mainly on teleosts, crustaceans and cephalopods, whereas gastropods and polychaetes are occasionally consumed. Significant differences were found between the diets of males and females; however, ontogenetic changes were also detected, with crustaceans constituting the greatest proportion of the diet of smaller rays. Both teleosts and cephalopods increased in importance with growth of the skates. Prey diversity increased with size; large and mobile prey species were more commonly found in the diet of larger skates. Diet composition showed seasonal variations. Quantitative analyses and graphical methods indicate that the thornback ray is a generalist feeder.

Keywords

skatesRaja clavatadietGulf of GabesCentral Mediterranean Sea
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 94 , Issue 7 , November 2014 , pp. 1509 - 1516
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abella, A.J. and Serena, F. (2005) Comparison of elasmobranch catches from research trawl surveys and commercial landings at the port of Viareggio, Italy, in the last decade. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science 35, 345–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ajayi, T.O. (1982) Food and feeding habits of Raja species (Batoidei) in Carmarthen Bay, Bristol Channel. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 62, 215–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amundsen, P.A., Gabler, H.M. and Staldvik, F.J. (1996) A new approach to graphical analysis of feeding strategy from stomach contents data-modification of the Costello method. Journal of Fish Biology 48, 607–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braccini, J.M. and Perez, J.E. (2005) Feeding habits of the sandskate Psammobatis extenta (Garman, 1913): sources of variation in dietary composition. Marine and Freshwater Resources 56, 395–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capapé, C. (1975) Contribution a la biologie des Rajidae des côtes tunisiennes. Raja clavata (Linné 1758): régime alimentaire. Annales de l'Institut Michel Pacha 8, 16–32.Google Scholar
Colin, A., Simpfendorfer, A.G. and McAuley, R. (2001) Diet of three commercially important shark species from Western Australian waters. Marine and Freshwater Resources 52, 975–985.Google Scholar
Cortés, E. (1997) A critical review of methods of studying fish feeding based on analysis of stomach contents: application to elasmobranch fishes. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 54, 726–738.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortés, E. (1999) Standardized diet compositions and trophic levels of sharks. ICES Journal of Marine Science 56, 707–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunha, P., Calvário, J., Marques, J.C. and Ré, P. (1986) Estudo comparativo dos regimes alimentaires de Raja brachyura Lafont, 1873, Raja clavata Linné, 1758, Raja montagui Fowler, 1910 Raja naevus Müller and Henlen, 1841 (Pisces: Rajidae) da costa Portuguesa. Arquivos do Museu Bocage 8, 137–154.Google Scholar
Daan, N., Johnson, B., Larsen, J.R. and Sparholt, H. (1993) Analysis of the ray (Raja sp.) samples collected during the 1991 international stomach sampling project. Copenhagen: International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), CM Documents 1993(G:15)[s.l.].Google Scholar
Dolgov, A.V. (2005) Feeding and food consumption by the Barents Sea skates. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science 35, 495–503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebert, D.A. (2002) Ontogenetic changes in the diet of the sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus). Marine and Freshwater Research 53, 517–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebert, D.A. and Bizzarro, J.J. (2007) Standardized diet compositions and trophic levels of skates. Environmental Biology of Fishes 80, 197–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebert, D.A., Cowley, P.D. and Compagno, L.J.V. (1991) A preliminary investigation of the feeding ecology of skates (Batoidea: Rajidae) off the west coast of southern Africa. African Journal of Marine Science 10, 71–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, J.R., Pawson, M.G. and Shackley, S.E. (1996) The comparative feeding ecology of six species of shark and four species of ray (Elasmobranchii) in the north-east Atlantic. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 76, 89–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farias, I., Figueiredo, I., Moura, T., Gordo, L.S., Neves, A. and Pereira, B.S. (2006) Diet comparison of four ray species (Raja clavata, Raja brachyura, Raja montagui and Leucoraja naevus) caught along the Portuguese continental shelf. Aquatic Living Resources 19, 105–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, W., Bauchot, M.L. and Schneider, M. (1987a) Fiches FAO d'identification des espèces pour les besoins de la pêche (révision 1) Méditerranée et mer Noire. Zone de pêche 37. I. Végétaux et Invertébrés. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Fischer, W., Bauchot, M.L. and Schneider, M. (1987b) Fiches FAO d'identification des espèces pour les besoins de la pêche (révision 1) Méditerranée et mer Noire. Zone de pêche 37. II. Vertébrés. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Garofalo, G., Gristina, M., Fiorentino, F., Cigala Fulgosi, F., Norrito, G. and Sinacori, G. (2003) Distributional pattern of rays (Pisces, Rajidae) in the Strait of Sicily in relation to fishing pressure. Hydrobiology 503, 245–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, A.E., Mulligan, T.J. and Hannah, R.W. (1997) Food habits, occurrence, and population structure of the bat ray, Myliobatis californica in Humboltd Bay, California. Environmental Biology of Fishes 70, 133–143.Google Scholar
Holden, M.J. and Tucker, R.N. (1974) The food of Raja clavata Linnaeus 1758, Raja montagui Fowler 1910, Raja naevus Müller and Henle 1841, and Raja brachyura La Font 1873 in British waters. Rapport de la Commission Internationale pour la Mer Méditerranéenne 35, 189–193.Google Scholar
Kadri, H., Marouani, S., Saïdi, B., Bradaï, M.N., Bouaïn, A. and Morize, E. (2014) Food habits of the brown ray Raja miraletus (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae) from the Gulf of Gabès (Tunisia). Marine Biology Research 10, 426–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, K.J. and Clark, M.R. (1984) The food of rig (Mustelus lenticulatus) and the relationship of feeding to reproduction and condition in Golden Bay. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 18, 29–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koen Alonso, M., Crespo, E.A., Garcia, N.A., Pedraza, S.N., Mariotti, P.A. and Beron, V.B. (2001) Food habits of Dipturus chilensis (Pisces: Rajidae) off Patagonia, Argentina. ICES Journal of Marine Science 58, 288–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langton, R.W. (1982) Diet overlap between Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, Silver hake, Merluccius bilinearis, and fifteen other Northwest Atlantic finfish. Fisheries Bulletin 80, 745–759.Google Scholar
Lucifora, L.O., Garcia, V.B., Menni, R.C., Escalante, A.H. and Hozbor, N.M. (2009) Effects of body size, age and maturity stage on diet in a large shark: ecological and applied implications. Ecological Research 24, 109–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McEachran, J.D., Boesch, D.F. and Musick, J.A. (1976) Food division within two sympatric species-pairs of skates (Pisces: Rajidae). Marine Biology 35, 301–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCord, M.E. and Campana, S.E. (2003) A quantitative assessment of the diet of the blue shark (Prionace glauca) off Nova Scotia, Canada. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science 32, 57–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medved, R.J., Stillwell, C.E. and Casey, J.J. (1985) Stomach contents of young sandbar sharks, Carcharhinus plumbeus, in Chincoteague Bay, Virginia. Fisheries Bulletin 83, 395–401Google Scholar
Morato, T., Sola, E., Gros, M.P. and Menezes, G. (2003) Diets of thornback ray (Raja clavata) and tope shark (Galeorhinus galeus) in the bottom longline fishery of the Azores, northeastern Atlantic. Fisheries Bulletin 101, 590–602.Google Scholar
Morisita, M. (1959) Measuring of interspecific association and similarity between communities. Memoirs of the Faculty of Science. Kyushu University Series 3, 65–80.Google Scholar
Muto, E.Y., Soares, L.S.H. and Goitein, R. (2001) Food resource utilization of the skates Rioraja agassizii (Muller & Henle, 1841) and Psammobatis extenta (Garman, 1913) on the continental shelf off Ubatuba, southeastern Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Biologia 61, 217–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orlov, A.M. (1998) The diets and feeding habits of some deep-water benthic skates (Rajidae) in the Pacific waters off the Northern Kuril Islands and Southeastern Kamchatka. Alaska Fisheries Research Bulletin 5, 1–17.Google Scholar
Orlov, A.M. (2001) Feeding habits of some deep-benthic skates (Rajidae) in the western Bering Sea. Oceans 2, 842–855.Google Scholar
O'Shea, O.R., Thums, M., van Keulen, M., Kempster, R.M. and Meekan, M.G. (2013) Dietary partitioning by five sympatric species of stingray (Dasyatidae) on coral reefs. Journal of Fish Biology 82, 1805–1820.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pinkas, L.M., Oliphant, S. and Iverson, I.L.K. (1971) Food habits of albacore, bluefin tuna, and bonito in Californian waters. California Department of Fish and Game 152, 1–105.Google Scholar
Quiniou, L. and Andriamirado, G.R. (1979) Variations of the diet of three species of rays from Douarnenez Bay (Raja montagui Fowler, 1910; Raja brachyura Lafont, 1873; Raja clavata L., 1758). Cybium 3, 27–39.Google Scholar
Riedel, R. (1963) Fauna und Flora der Adria. Hamburg and Berlin: Verlag Paul Parey.Google Scholar
Rosecchi, E. and Nouazé, Y. (1987) Comparaison de cinq indices alimentaires utilisés dans l'analyse des contenues stomacaux. Revue des Travaux de l'Institut des Pêches Maritimes 49, 111–123.Google Scholar
Saglam, H. and Bascinar, N.S. (2008) Feeding ecology of thornback ray (Raja clavata Linnaeus, 1758) on the Turkish coast of the south-eastern Black Sea. Marine Biology Research 4, 451–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saidi, B., Enajjar, S., Bradai, M.N. and Bouain, A. (2009) Diet composition of smooth-hound shark, Mustelus mustelus (Linnaeus, 1758), in the Gulf of Gabès, southern Tunisia. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 25, 113–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
San Martín, M.J., Braccini, J.M., Tamini, L.L., Chiaramonte, G.E. and Perez, J.E. (2007) Temporal and sexual effects in the feeding ecology of the marbled sand skate Psammobatis bergi Marini, 1932. Marine Biology 151, 505–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scenna, L.B., García, S.B. and Díaz, J.M. (2006) Trophic ecology of the Patagonian skate, Bathyraja macloviana, on the Argentine continental shelf. ICES Journal of Marine Sciences 63, 867–874.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoener, T.W. (1970) Non synchronous spatial overlap of lizards in patchy habitats. Ecology 51, 408–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shannon, C.E. and Weaver, W. (1949) The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Simpfendorfer, C.A., Goodreid, A.B. and McAuley, R.B. (2001) Diet of three commercially important shark species from Western Australian waters. Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 52, 975–985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skjæraasen, J.E. and Bergstad, O.A. (2000) Distribution and feeding ecology of Raja radiata in the northeastern North Sea and Skagerrak (Norwegian Deep). ICES Journal of Marine Sciences 57, 1249–1260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smale, M.J. and Cowley, P.D. (1992) The feeding ecology of skates (Batoidea: Rajidae) off the Cape south coast, South Africa. African Journal of Marine Sciences 12, 823–834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stillwell, C.E. and Kohler, N.E. (1993) Food habits of the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, off the US northeast coast, with estimates of daily ration. Fisheries Bulletin 91, 138–150.Google Scholar
Treolar, M.A., Laurenson, L.J.B. and Stevens, J.D. (2007) Dietary comparisons of six skate species (Rajidae) in south-eastern Australian waters. Environmental Biology of Fishes 80, 181–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vannucci, S. (2005) Ecologia di alcune specie di Rajidae del Mar Ligure meridionale con particolare riferimento all alimentazione. BSc thesis. Facoltà di Scienze Matematiche, Fisiche e Naturali, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Italy.Google Scholar
Vannucci, S., Mancusi, C., Serena, F., Cuoco, C. and Volani, A. (2006) Feeding ecology of rays in the southern Ligurian Sea. Biologia Marina Mediterranea 13, 296–297.Google Scholar