Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary, Gloucester Point, VA, USA.
Sci Rep. 2023 Sep 26;13(1):16078. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-41298-9.
Pelagic predators are effective biological samplers of midtrophic taxa and are especially useful in deep-sea habitats where relatively mobile taxa frequently avoid observation with conventional methods. We examined specimens sampled from the stomachs of longnose lancetfish, Alepisaurus ferox, to describe the diets and foraging behaviors of three common, but poorly known deep-sea fishes: the hammerjaw (Omosudis lowii, n = 79, 0.3-92 g), juvenile common fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta, n = 91, 0.6-22 g), and juvenile Al. ferox (n = 138, 0.3-744 g). Diet overlap among the three species was high, with five shared prey families accounting for 63 ± 11% of the total prey mass per species. However, distinct differences in foraging strategies and prey sizes were evident. Resource partitioning was greatest between An. cornuta that specialized on small (mean = 0.13 ± 0.11 g), shallow-living hyperiid amphipods and O. lowii that specialized on large (mean = 0.97 ± 0.45 g), deep-dwelling hatchetfishes. Juvenile Al. ferox foraged on a high diversity of prey from both shallow and deep habitats. We describe the foraging ecologies of three midtrophic fish competitors and demonstrate the potential for biological samplers to improve our understanding of deep-sea food webs.
远洋捕食者是中层分类群的有效生物采样器，在深海栖息地特别有用，在那里相对移动的分类群经常避免用常规方法观察。我们检查了从长鼻剑鱼（Alepisaurus ferox）胃中采集的标本，以描述三种常见但知之甚少的深海鱼类的饮食和觅食行为： hammerjaw（Omosudis lowii，n = 79，0.3-92 g），幼年普通尖牙鱼（Anoplogaster cornuta，n = 91，0.6-22 g）和幼年 Al. ferox（n = 138，0.3-744 g）。这三种鱼的饮食重叠度很高，有五个共同的猎物科，占每个物种总猎物质量的 63 ± 11%。然而，明显的觅食策略和猎物大小的差异是显而易见的。An. cornuta 专门以小的（平均= 0.13 ± 0.11 g），浅栖的 hyperiid 端足类动物为食，而 O. lowii 则专门以大的（平均= 0.97 ± 0.45 g），深栖的 hatchetfishes 为食，两者之间的资源分割最大。幼年 Al. ferox 以浅海和深海栖息地的多种猎物为食。我们描述了三种中层鱼类竞争者的觅食生态，并证明了生物采样器可以提高我们对深海食物网的理解。
