Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-7drxs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T09:56:52.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Food habits of South Pacific hake (Merluccius gayi) in Ecuadorian waters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2019

José Luis Varela Open the ORCID record for José Luis Varela [Opens in a new window]  and
Jonathan Eduardo Pincay-Espinoza
José Luis Varela*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología, Universidad de Cádiz, Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEI·MAR), Av. República Saharaui s/n, 11510 Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
Jonathan Eduardo Pincay-Espinoza
Affiliation:
Subsecretaría de Recursos Pesqueros, Viceministerio de Acuacultura y Pesca, Puerto Pesquero Artesanal de San Mateo, Manta, Manabí, Ecuador Escuela de Acuicultura y Pesquería, Universidad Técnica de Manabí Extensión Bahía de Caráquez, Sucre, Manabí, Ecuador
*
Author for correspondence: José Luis Varela, E-mail: joseluis.varela@uca.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The food habits of the South Pacific hake (Merluccius gayi) from Ecuadorian waters were studied by analysing 232 stomachs of specimens ranging from 23.4–83.1 cm in total length (TL). Fish was the most important prey group (Alimentary Index, %AI = 94), Ctenosciaena peruviana being the most represented prey species (%AI = 62.17). PERMANOVA analysis showed dietary differences between the smallest individuals (class I < 30 cm TL) and the largest (class IV 40–45 cm TL; class V ≥ 45 cm TL). In addition, spatial differences in dietary composition were found between the three sampled regions (Manabí, Santa Elena and Guayas). The results of this study indicate that the South Pacific hake is an opportunistic predator feeding on a wide variety of vertebrate and invertebrate organisms.

Keywords

Feeding patternsfood itemsMerlucciidaestomach content analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 99 , Issue 8 , December 2019 , pp. 1851 - 1856
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2019 

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

Aguayo, M (1995) Biology and fisheries of Chilean hakes (M. gayi and M. australis). In Alheit, J and Pitcher, TJ (eds), Hakes: Biology, Fisheries and Markets. London: Chapman & Hall, pp. 305–338.Google Scholar
Alamo, A and Espinoza, P (1996) Comportamiento alimenticio de la merluza durante el invierno de 1996. Crucero BIC SNP-1 9607-08. Informe Instituto del Mar del Perú 124, 79–85.Google Scholar
Alamo, A and Espinoza, P (1997) Espectro alimentario de la merluza durante el otoño de 1997. Crucero BIC Humboldt 9705-06. Informe Instituto del Mar del Perú 128, 47–55.Google Scholar
Amundsen, PA, Gabler, HM and Staldvik, FJ (1996) A new approach to graphical analysis of feeding strategy from stomach contents data – modification of the Costello (1990) method. Journal of Fish Biology 48, 607–614.Google Scholar
Anderson, MJ (2001) A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral Ecology 26, 32–46.Google Scholar
Anderson, MJ (2006) Distance-based tests for homogeneity of multivariate dispersions. Biometrics 62, 245–253.Google Scholar
Bray, JR and Curtis, JT (1957) An ordination of the upland forest communities of Southern Wisconsin. Ecological Monographs 27, 325–349.Google Scholar
Cabral, HN and Murta, AG (2002) The diet of blue whiting, hake, horse mackerel and mackerel off Portugal. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 18, 14–23.Google Scholar
Carpentieri, P, Colloca, F, Cardinale, M, Belluscio, A and Ardizzone, GD (2005) Feeding habits of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) in the central Mediterranean Sea. Fishery Bulletin 103, 411–416.Google Scholar
Cartes, JE, Papiol, V and Guijarro, B (2008) The feeding and diet of the deep-sea shrimp Aristeus antennatus off the Balearic Islands (Western Mediterranean): influence of environmental factors and relationship with the biological cycle. Progress in Oceanography 79, 37–54.Google Scholar
Castillo, R, Juárez, L and Aldana, L (1995) Composición y consumo de alimento de la merluza peruana con especial énfasis en la ración diaria total. Informe 112, IMARPE, 18.Google Scholar
Castillo, R, Juárez, L and Aldana, L (1997) Composición y consumo de alimento de la merluza peruana con especial énfasis en la ración diaria total. Informe Progresivo, No 71. IMARPE, 13.Google Scholar
Clarke, MR (1986) A Handbook for the Identification of Cephalopod Beaks. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Costello, MJ (1990) Predator feeding strategy and prey importance: a new graphical analysis. Journal of Fish Biology 36, 261–263.Google Scholar
Fuentes, H (1983) Algunas consideraciones sobe la relación predador-presa en la merluza peruana (Merluccius gayi peruanus) del área de Paita. IX Congreso Latinoamerica de Zoología. Arequipa Perú.Google Scholar
García-Godos Naveda, I (2001) Patrones morfológicos del otolito sagitta de algunos peces óseos del mar Peruano. Boletín del Instituto del Mar de Perú 20, 1–83.Google Scholar
Guevara-Carrasco, R and Lleonart, J (2008) Dynamics and fishery of the Peruvian hake: between nature and man. Journal of Marine Systems 71, 249–259.Google Scholar
Harvey, JT, Loughlin, TR, Perez, MA and Oxman, DS (2000) Relationship between fish size and otolith length for 63 species of fishes from the eastern North Pacific Ocean. NOAA Technical Report NMFS 150, 1–35.Google Scholar
Juanes, F (2003) The allometry of cannibalism in piscivorous fishes. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 60, 594–602.Google Scholar
Kawakami, E and Vazzoler, G (1980) Método gráfico e estimativa de Índice Alimentar aplicado no estudo de alimentação de peixes. Boletim do Instituto de Oceanografia 29, 205–207.Google Scholar
Link, JS, Lucey, SM and Melgey, JH (2012) Examining cannibalism in relation to recruitment of silver hake Merluccius bilinearis in the U.S. Northwest Atlantic. Fisheries Research 114, 31–41.Google Scholar
Loor-Andrade, P, Pincay-Espinoza, J and Rosas-Luis, R (2017 a) Diet of the blue shark Prionace glauca in the Ecuadorian Pacific Ocean during the years 2013 to 2015. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 33, 558–562.Google Scholar
Loor-Andrade, P, Pincay-Espinoza, J, Carrera-Fernández, M and Rosas-Luis, R (2017 b) Feeding habits of billfishes (Carangaria: Istiophoriformes) in the Ecuadorian Pacific Ocean. Neotropical Ichthyology 15, e160162.Google Scholar
García-Domínguez, M, Gilces, I, Lavayen-Zapata, F, Daza-Bermeo, C, Bermúdez, C, Ávila-Zambrano, E, Cevallos-García, A (2014). Pesquería del recurso merluza (Merluccius gayi) en el Ecuador Continental 2013. Informe Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería, Acuacultura y Pesca, pp. 24.Google Scholar
Mahe, K, Amara, R, Bryckaert, T, Kacher, M and Brylinski, JM (2007) Ontogenetic and spatial variation in the diet of hake (Merluccius merluccius) in the Bay of Biscay and the Celtic Sea. ICES Journal of Marine Science 64, 1210–1219.Google Scholar
Martínez-Ortiz, J, Aires-Da-Silva, AM, Lennert-Cody, CE and Maunder, MN (2015) The Ecuadorian artisanal fishery for large pelagics: species composition and spatio-temporal dynamics. PLoS ONE 10, e0135136.Google Scholar
McArdle, BH and Anderson, MJ (2001) Fitting multivariate models to community data: a comment on distance-based redundancy analysis. Ecology 82, 290–297.Google Scholar
Oksanen, J, Blanchet, F, Kindt, R, Legendre, P, O'Hara, RG, Simpson, G, Solymos, P, Stevens, MHH, Szoecs, E and Wagner, H (2010) Vegan: community ecology package. R package version 2.5-5. Available at http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=vegan.Google Scholar
Orrego, H and Mendo, J (2012) Interannual variation in the diet of hake Merluccius gayi peruanus (Guitchenot, 1848) on the Peruvian coast. Ecología Aplicada 11, 103–116.Google Scholar
Pauly, C, Christensen, V and Walters, C (2000) Ecopath, Ecosim, and Ecospace as tools for evaluating ecosystem impacts of fisheries. ICES Journal of Marine Science 57, 697–706.Google Scholar
Payne, AIL, Rose, B and Leslie, RW (1987) Feeding of hake and a first attempt at determining their trophic role in the South African west coast marine environment. South African Journal of Marine Science 5, 471–501.Google Scholar
Polo-Silva, C, Baigorrí-Santacruz, A, Galván-Magaña, F, Grijalba-Bendeck, M and Sanjuan-Muñoz, A (2007) Hábitos alimentarios del tiburón zorro Alopias superciliosus (Lowe, 1839), en el Pacífico ecuatoriano. Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía 4, 59–69.Google Scholar
Polo-Silva, C, Rendón, L and Galván-Magaña, F (2009) Descripción de la dieta de los tiburones zorro (Alopias pelagicus) y (Alopias superciliosus) durante la época lluviosa en aguas ecuatorianas. Pan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences 4, 556–571.Google Scholar
Polo-Silva, C, Newsome, SD, Galván-Magaña, F, Grijalba-Bendeck, M and Sanjuan-Muñoz, A (2013) Trophic shift in the diet of the pelagic thresher shark based on stomach contents and stable isotope analyses. Marine Biology Research 9, 958–971.Google Scholar
Preti, A, Soykan, CU, Dewar, H, David-Wells, RJ, Spear, N and Kohin, S (2012) Comparative feeding ecology of shortfin mako, blue and thresher sharks in the California Current. Environmental Biology of Fishes 95, 127–146.Google Scholar
Punt, AE, Leslie, RW and Du Plessis, SE (1992) Estimation of the annual consumption of food by Cape hake Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus off the South African west coast. South African Journal of Marine Science 12, 611–634.Google Scholar
R Core Team (2019) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available at www.r-project.org.Google Scholar
Rosas-Luis, R, Loor-Andrade, P, Carrera-Fernández, M, Pincay-Espinoza, JE, Vinces-Ortega, C and Chompoy-Salazar, L (2016) Cephalopod species in the diet of large pelagic fish (sharks and billfishes) in Ecuadorian waters. Fisheries Research 173, 159–168.Google Scholar
Sinopoli, M, Fanelli, E, D'Anna, G, Badalamenti, F and Pipitone, C (2012) Assessing the effects of a trawling ban on diet and trophic level of hake, Merluccius merluccius, in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea. Scientia Marina 76, 677–690.Google Scholar
Sonnenholzner, J, Brandt, M, Francisco, V, Hearn, A, Luzuriaga, M, Guarderas, P and Navarro, JC (2013) Echinoderms of Ecuador. In Alvarado, JJ and Solís-Marín, F (eds), Echinoderm Research and Diversity in Latin America. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 183–233.Google Scholar
Sorell, JM, Varela, JL, Goñi, N, Macías, D, Arrizabalaga, H and Medina, A (2017) Diet and consumption rate of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in the Strait of Gibraltar. Fisheries Research 188, 112–120.Google Scholar
Stobberup, KA (1992) Food composition and consumption of Chilean hake (Merluccius gayi gayi) with special reference to cannibalism. ICES Document, CM:43, p. 15.Google Scholar
Varela, JL, Lucas-Pilozo, CR and González-Duarte, MM (2017) Diet of common dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) in the Pacific coast of Ecuador. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 97, 207–213.Google Scholar
Velasco, F and Olaso, I (1998) European hake Merluccius merluccius (L. 1758) feeding in the Cantabrian Sea: seasonal, bathymetric and length variations. Fisheries Research 38, 33–44.Google Scholar
Vidal, R, Acuña, E and Rey-Méndez, M (1997) Dieta de la merluza Merluccius gayi (Guichenot, 1848) del norte de Chile. Boletín del Instituto Español de Oceanografía 13, 35–45.Google Scholar
Zambrano-Zambrano, RW, Mendoza-Moreira, PE, Gómez-Zamora, W and Varela, JL (2019) Feeding ecology and consumption rate of broadbill swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in Ecuadorian waters. Marine Biodiversity 49, 373–380.Google Scholar