Ronje Errol I, Barry Kevin P, Sinclair Carrie, Grace Mark A, Barros Nélio, Allen Jason, Balmer Brian, Panike Anna, Toms Christina, Mullin Keith D, Wells Randall S
Mississippi Laboratories, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pascagoula, Mississippi, United States of America.
Chicago Zoological Society's Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, c/o: Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, Florida, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2017 Jul 12;12(7):e0181179. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181179. eCollection 2017.
Few accounts describe predator-prey interactions between common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus Montagu 1821) and marine catfish (Ariopsis felis Linnaeus 1766, Bagre marinus Mitchill 1815). Over the course of 50,167 sightings of bottlenose dolphin groups in Mississippi Sound and along the Florida coast of the Gulf of Mexico, severed catfish heads were found floating and exhibiting movements at the surface in close proximity to 13 dolphin groups that demonstrated feeding behavior. These observations prompted a multi-disciplinary approach to study the predator-prey relationship between bottlenose dolphins and marine catfish. A review was conducted of bottlenose dolphin visual survey data and dorsal fin photographs from sightings where severed catfish heads were observed. Recovered severed catfish heads were preserved and studied, whole marine catfish were collected and examined, and stranding network pathology reports were reviewed for references to injuries related to fish spines. Photographic identification analysis confirms eight dolphins associated with severed catfish heads were present in three such sightings across an approximately 350 km expanse of coast between the Mississippi Sound and Saint Joseph Bay, FL. An examination of the severed catfish heads indicated interaction with dolphins, and fresh-caught whole hardhead catfish (A. felis) were examined to estimate the presumed total length of the catfish before decapitation. Thirty-eight instances of significant trauma or death in dolphins attributed to ingesting whole marine catfish were documented in stranding records collected from the southeastern United States of America. Bottlenose dolphins typically adhere to a ram-feeding strategy for prey capture followed by whole prey ingestion; however, marine catfish skull morphology may pose a consumption hazard due to rigid spines that can puncture and migrate through soft tissue, prompting a prey handling technique for certain dolphins, facilitating consumption of the posterior portion of the fish without the head.
很少有记录描述普通宽吻海豚（Tursiops truncatus Montagu 1821）与海鲶（Ariopsis felis Linnaeus 1766、Bagre marinus Mitchill 1815）之间的捕食者 - 猎物相互作用。在对密西西比海峡和墨西哥湾佛罗里达海岸的宽吻海豚群进行的50167次目击过程中，发现有13个表现出觅食行为的海豚群附近有被切断的鲶鱼头漂浮在水面并呈现出活动状态。这些观察结果促使采用多学科方法来研究宽吻海豚与海鲶之间的捕食者 - 猎物关系。对宽吻海豚视觉调查数据以及观察到被切断鲶鱼头的目击事件中的背鳍照片进行了回顾。对回收的被切断鲶鱼头进行了保存和研究，收集并检查了完整的海鲶，还查阅了搁浅网络病理学报告以查找与鱼刺相关损伤的参考文献。照片识别分析证实，在密西西比海峡和佛罗里达州圣约瑟夫湾之间约350公里的海岸线上的三次此类目击事件中，有八只与被切断鲶鱼头相关的海豚出现。对被切断鲶鱼头的检查表明存在与海豚的相互作用，并且对新鲜捕获的完整硬头鲶（A. felis）进行了检查，以估计鲶鱼被斩首前的假定全长。在美国东南部收集的搁浅记录中记录了38例宽吻海豚因吞食完整海鲶而导致严重创伤或死亡的情况。宽吻海豚通常采用猛冲捕食策略来捕获猎物，然后整个吞食猎物；然而，海鲶的头骨形态可能因坚硬的刺会刺穿并在软组织中移动而带来食用风险，这促使某些海豚采用一种猎物处理技巧，以便在不包括头部的情况下食用鱼的后部。
