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Food habits of the longnose skate, Raja rhina (Jordan and Gilbert, 1880), in central California waters

Food habits of the longnose skate, Raja rhina (Jordan and Gilbert, 1880), in central California... Feeding studies can provide researchers with important insights towards understanding potential fishery impacts on marine systems. Raja rhina is one of the most common elasmobranch species landed in central and northern California demersal fisheries, yet life history information is extremely limited for this species and aspects of its diet are unknown. Specimens of R. rhina were collected between September, 2002 and August, 2003 from fisheries-independent trawl surveys. Percent Index of Relative Importance values indicated that the five most important prey items in 618 stomachs of R. rhina were unidentified teleosts (31.6% IRI), unidentified shrimps (19.6% IRI), unidentified euphausiids (10.9% IRI), Crangonidae (7.4% IRI), and Neocrangon resima (6.0% IRI). There were significant dietary shifts with increasing skate total length and with increasing depths. Smaller skates ate small crustaceans and larger skates ate larger fishes and cephalopods. With increasing depths, diet included bentho-pelagic teleosts and more cephalopods and euphausiids. The findings of this study are consistent with previous researchers that report similar diet shifts in skate species with size and depth. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Environmental Biology of Fishes Springer Journals

Food habits of the longnose skate, Raja rhina (Jordan and Gilbert, 1880), in central California waters

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References (70)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
Subject
Environment; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Zoology ; Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Nature Conservation ; Environment, general
ISSN
0378-1909
eISSN
1573-5133
DOI
10.1007/s10641-007-9222-9
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Feeding studies can provide researchers with important insights towards understanding potential fishery impacts on marine systems. Raja rhina is one of the most common elasmobranch species landed in central and northern California demersal fisheries, yet life history information is extremely limited for this species and aspects of its diet are unknown. Specimens of R. rhina were collected between September, 2002 and August, 2003 from fisheries-independent trawl surveys. Percent Index of Relative Importance values indicated that the five most important prey items in 618 stomachs of R. rhina were unidentified teleosts (31.6% IRI), unidentified shrimps (19.6% IRI), unidentified euphausiids (10.9% IRI), Crangonidae (7.4% IRI), and Neocrangon resima (6.0% IRI). There were significant dietary shifts with increasing skate total length and with increasing depths. Smaller skates ate small crustaceans and larger skates ate larger fishes and cephalopods. With increasing depths, diet included bentho-pelagic teleosts and more cephalopods and euphausiids. The findings of this study are consistent with previous researchers that report similar diet shifts in skate species with size and depth.

Journal

Environmental Biology of Fishes – Springer Journals

Published: Feb 23, 2007

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