Diel feeding chronology of the skate raja Agassizii (Müller &amp; Henle) (Pisces, Elasmobranchii) on the continental shelf off Ubatuba, Southeastern Brazil

Soares, Lucy Satiko Hashimoto; Vazzoler, Anna Emilia Amato de Moraes; Correa, André Roberto

doi:10.1590/S0101-81751999000100016

Abstract

The diet and diel feeding pattern of the skate Raja agassizii were investigated through analysis of stomach contents. A total of 280 stomachs were collected by a series of hauls during a daily cycle in three periods, 8-10 January 1987, 22-24 July and 2-4 December 1988, from the inner continental shelf of the coastal ecosystem of Ubatuba, São Paulo State, Brazil (25º35'S; 45º00'W). According to the results of the stomach fullness and of the number of fresh prey, it is suggested that this species presents continuity in the feeding activity during a day. The stomach contents were mainly composed of crustaceans. Nematodes, polychaetes and fishes also occurred. No changes were observed in dietary composition between day and night.

Rajidae; diel feeding; food habits; marine demersal fish; southwestern Atlantic

Diel feeding chronology of the skate raja Agassizii (Müller & Henle) (Pisces, Elasmobranchii) on the continental shelf off Ubatuba, Southeastern Brazil

Lucy Satiko Hashimoto Soares^I,II; Anna Emilia Amato de Moraes Vazzoler^I,II; André Roberto Correa^II

^IDepartamento de Oceanografia Biológica, Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo. Caixa Postal 66149, 05508-900 São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil

^IICNPq grant

ABSTRACT

The diet and diel feeding pattern of the skate Raja agassizii were investigated through analysis of stomach contents. A total of 280 stomachs were collected by a series of hauls during a daily cycle in three periods, 8-10 January 1987, 22-24 July and 2-4 December 1988, from the inner continental shelf of the coastal ecosystem of Ubatuba, São Paulo State, Brazil (25º35'S; 45º00'W). According to the results of the stomach fullness and of the number of fresh prey, it is suggested that this species presents continuity in the feeding activity during a day. The stomach contents were mainly composed of crustaceans. Nematodes, polychaetes and fishes also occurred. No changes were observed in dietary composition between day and night.

Key words: Rajidae, diel feeding, food habits, marine demersal fish, southwestern Atlantic

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This research is part of a Programme of initiative of the Oceanographic Institute (University of São Paulo) to investigate the tropical Atlantic ecosystem. It was made possible through support by CIRM (Interministerial Comission of the Sea Resources). The authors wish to thank Dr. Tania A. S. Brito and Mr Franz Smith for their useful comments and for improving the English. Thanks are also extended to Marcia R. Gasparro for her assistance in preparing tables and figures and for helping with data analyses.

Recebido em 19.IX.1997; aceito em 03.III.1999.

AIDAR, E.; S.A. GAETA; S.M.F. GIANESELLA-GALVÃO; M.B.B. KUTNER & C. TEIXEIRA. 1993. Ecossistema costeiro subtropical: nutrientes dissolvidos, fitoplâncton e clorofila-α e suas relações com as condições oceanógraficas na região de Ubatuba, SP (Coastal subtropical ecosystem: dissolved nutrients, phyto-plankton and chlorophill-a relationships to oceanographical conditions in Ubatuba region, SP, Brazil). Publicação esp. Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, (10): 9-43.
BERG, J. 1979. Discussion of methods of investigating the food of fishes, with reference to a preliminary study of prey of Gobiusculus flavescens (Gobiidae). Mar. Biol. 50: 263-273.
BLABER, S.J.M. & C.M. BULMAN. 1987. Diets of fishes of upper continental slope of eastern Tasmania: content, calorific values, dietary overlap and trophic relationships. Mar. Biol. 95: 345-356
BOUJARD, T. & J.F. LEATHERLAND. 1992. Orcadian rhythms and feeding time in fishes. Env. Biol. Fish. 35: 109-131.
BOWMAN, R.E. & E.W. BOWMAN. 1980. Diurnal variation in the feeding intensity and catchability of the Silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis). Can. Jour. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 37: 1565-1572.
CASTRO FILHO, B.M.; L.B. DE MIRANDA & S.Y. MIYAO. 1987. Condições oceanográficas na plataforma continental ao largo de Ubatuba: variações sazonais e em média escala (Hydrographic conditions on the continental shelf off Ubatuba: seasonal and meso-scale variability). Bolm Inst. oceanogr., São Paulo, 35: 135-151.
COMPAGNO, L.J.V. 1990. Alternative life-history styles of cartilaginous fishes in time and space. Env. Biol. Fish. 28: 33-75.
DALGOV, A.V. & N.A. YARAGINA. 1990. Daily feeding rhythms and food intake of Barents Sea cod and haddock in summer of 1989. Netherlands, ICES, C.M. 1990/G.6., 22p.
DURBIN, E.G.; A.G. DURBIN; R.W. LANGTON & R.E. BOWMAN. 1983. Stomach contents of silver hake, Merluccius bilinearis and Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, and estimation of their daily ration. Fish. Bull. U.S. 81: 437-454.
FIGUEIREDO, J.L. 1977. Manual de peixes marinhos do sudeste do Brasil. I. Introdução. Cações, raias e quimeras (Manual of marine fish from southeastern Brazil). São Paulo, Universidade de São Paulo, Museu de Zoologia, 104p.
GORDOA, A. & E. MACPHERSON. 1991. Diurnal variation in the feeding activity and catch rate of cape hake (Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus) off Namibia. Fish. Res. 12: 299-305.
HACUNDA, J.S. 1981. Trophic relationships among demersal fishes in a coastal area of the Gulf of Maine. Fish. Bull. 79: 775-788.
HARMELIN-VIVIEN, M.L.; R.A. KAIM-MALKA; M. LEDOYER & S.S. JACOB-ABRAHAM. 1989. Food partitioning among scorpaenid fishes in the Mediterranean seagrass beds. Jour. Fish Biol, 34: 715-734.
HYSLOP, E.J. 1980. Stomach content analysis: a review of methods and their application. Jour. Fish Biol. 17: 411-430.
JENKINS, B.W. & J.M. GREEN. 1977. A critique of field methodology for determining fish feeding periodicity. Env. Biol. Fish. 1: 209-214.
LINTON, L.R.; R.W. DAVIES & F.J. WRONA. 1981. Resource utilization indices: an assesment. Jour. Anim. Ecol. 50: 283-292.
MACPHERSON, E. 1981. Resource partitioning in a Mediterranean demersal community. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 4: 193-193.
______ . 1985. Daily ration and feeding periodicity of some fishes off coast of Namibia. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 26: 253-260.
MEDVED, R.J. 1985. Gastric evacuation in the sandbar shark, Carcharinus plumbeus. Jour. Fish Biol. 26: 238-253.
NELSON, G.A. & M.R. ROSS. 1995. Gastric evacuation in the little skate. Jour. Fish Biol. 46: 977-986.
PARRISH, D.L. & F.J. MARGRAF. 1990. Gastric evacuation rates of white perch, Morone americana, determined from laboratory and field data. Env. Biol. Fish. 29: 155-158.
PAYNE, A.I.L.; B. ROSE & R.W. LESLIE. 1987. Feeding of hake and a first attempt at determining their trophic role in the south African west coast marine environment. In: A.I.L. Payne, J.A. Gulland & K.H. Brink (Ed.). The Benguela and Comparable Ecosystems. S. Afr. Jour. mar. Sci. 5: 471-501.
PEDERSEN, S.A. 1995. Feedings habits of starry ray (Raja radiata) in West Greenland waters. ICES Jour. mar. Sci. 52: 43-53.
PIRES-VANIN, A.M.S. 1993. A macrofauna bêntica da plataforma continental ao largo de Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brasil. Publicação esp. Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, (10): 137-158.
PIRES-VANIN, A.M.S.; J.P.S. JORGE & S. SARTOR. 1995. Variação diária e sazonal da fauna bêntica de plataforma continental no litoral norte do estado de São Paulo (The diel variation of the benthic fauna from São Paulo State northern coast, Brazil.). Publicação esp. Inst. oceanogr., São Paulo, (11): 107-114.
ROBERTSON, A.I. & D. W. KLUMMP. 1983. Feeding habits of the southern Australian garfish Hyporhamphus melanochir: a diurnal herbivory and a nocturnal carnivore. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 10: 197-201.
ROSSI-WONGTSCHOWSKI, C.L.D. & E.T. PAES. 1993. Padrões espaciais e temporais da comunidade de peixes demersais do litoral norte do Estado de São Paulo (Demersal fish community at Ubatuba region, southeastern Atlantic, Brazil: spatial and temporal patterns). Publicação esp. Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, (10): 169-188.
SCHURDAK, M.E. & S.H. GRUBER. 1989. Gastric evacuation of the lemon shark Negaprion brevirostris (Poey) under controlled conditions. Exp. Biol. 48: 77-82.
SCRIMGEOUR, G.J. & M.J. WlNTERBOURN. 1987. Diet, food resource partitioning and feeding periodicity of two riffle-dwelling fish species in a New Zealand river. Jour. Fish Biol. 31: 309-324.
SMALE, M.J. & P.D. COWLEY. 1992. The feeding ecology of skates (Batoidea: Rajidae) off the Cape South Coast, South Africa. In: A.I.L. Payne; K.H. Brink; K.H. Mann; R. Hilborn (Ed.). Benguela Trophic Functioning. S. Afr. Jour, mar. Sci. 12: 823-834.
SOARES, L.S.H. & R. APELBAUM. 1994. Atividade alimentar diária da cabrinha Prionotus punctatus (Teleostei: Triglidae) do litoral de Ubatuba, Brasil (Diel feeding of searobin Prionotus punctatus from Brazilian southeastern coast.). Bolm Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, 42: 85-98.
SOARES, L.S.H.; C.L.D.B. ROSSI-WONGTSCHOWSKI; L.M.C. ALVARES; E.Y. MUTO & M.A. GASALLA. 1992. Grupos tráficos de peixes demersais da plataforma continental interna de Ubatuba, Brasil. I. Chondrichthyes (Trophic groups of demersal fish community from the continental shelf, Ubatuba, Brazil.). Bolm Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, 40: 79-85.
ZAR, J.H. 1996. Biostatistical analysis. New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 622p.
ZAVALA-CAMIN, L.A. 1996. Introdução aos estudos sobre alimentação natural em peixes. Maringá, Eduem, 129p.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
10 July 2009
Date of issue
Mar 1999

History

Received
19 Sept 1997
Accepted
03 Mar 1999

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

[1] AIDAR, E.; S.A. GAETA; S.M.F. GIANESELLA-GALVÃO; M.B.B. KUTNER & C. TEIXEIRA. 1993. Ecossistema costeiro subtropical: nutrientes dissolvidos, fitoplâncton e clorofila-α e suas relações com as condições oceanógraficas na região de Ubatuba, SP (Coastal subtropical ecosystem: dissolved nutrients, phyto-plankton and chlorophill-a relationships to oceanographical conditions in Ubatuba region, SP, Brazil). Publicação esp. Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, (10): 9-43.

[2] BERG, J. 1979. Discussion of methods of investigating the food of fishes, with reference to a preliminary study of prey of Gobiusculus flavescens (Gobiidae). Mar. Biol. 50: 263-273.

[3] BLABER, S.J.M. & C.M. BULMAN. 1987. Diets of fishes of upper continental slope of eastern Tasmania: content, calorific values, dietary overlap and trophic relationships. Mar. Biol. 95: 345-356

[4] BOUJARD, T. & J.F. LEATHERLAND. 1992. Orcadian rhythms and feeding time in fishes. Env. Biol. Fish. 35: 109-131.

[5] BOWMAN, R.E. & E.W. BOWMAN. 1980. Diurnal variation in the feeding intensity and catchability of the Silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis). Can. Jour. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 37: 1565-1572.

[6] CASTRO FILHO, B.M.; L.B. DE MIRANDA & S.Y. MIYAO. 1987. Condições oceanográficas na plataforma continental ao largo de Ubatuba: variações sazonais e em média escala (Hydrographic conditions on the continental shelf off Ubatuba: seasonal and meso-scale variability). Bolm Inst. oceanogr., São Paulo, 35: 135-151.

[7] COMPAGNO, L.J.V. 1990. Alternative life-history styles of cartilaginous fishes in time and space. Env. Biol. Fish. 28: 33-75.

[8] DALGOV, A.V. & N.A. YARAGINA. 1990. Daily feeding rhythms and food intake of Barents Sea cod and haddock in summer of 1989. Netherlands, ICES, C.M. 1990/G.6., 22p.

[9] DURBIN, E.G.; A.G. DURBIN; R.W. LANGTON & R.E. BOWMAN. 1983. Stomach contents of silver hake, Merluccius bilinearis and Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, and estimation of their daily ration. Fish. Bull. U.S. 81: 437-454.

[10] FIGUEIREDO, J.L. 1977. Manual de peixes marinhos do sudeste do Brasil. I. Introdução. Cações, raias e quimeras (Manual of marine fish from southeastern Brazil). São Paulo, Universidade de São Paulo, Museu de Zoologia, 104p.

[11] GORDOA, A. & E. MACPHERSON. 1991. Diurnal variation in the feeding activity and catch rate of cape hake (Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus) off Namibia. Fish. Res. 12: 299-305.

[12] HACUNDA, J.S. 1981. Trophic relationships among demersal fishes in a coastal area of the Gulf of Maine. Fish. Bull. 79: 775-788.

[13] HARMELIN-VIVIEN, M.L.; R.A. KAIM-MALKA; M. LEDOYER & S.S. JACOB-ABRAHAM. 1989. Food partitioning among scorpaenid fishes in the Mediterranean seagrass beds. Jour. Fish Biol, 34: 715-734.

[14] HYSLOP, E.J. 1980. Stomach content analysis: a review of methods and their application. Jour. Fish Biol. 17: 411-430.

[15] JENKINS, B.W. & J.M. GREEN. 1977. A critique of field methodology for determining fish feeding periodicity. Env. Biol. Fish. 1: 209-214.

[16] LINTON, L.R.; R.W. DAVIES & F.J. WRONA. 1981. Resource utilization indices: an assesment. Jour. Anim. Ecol. 50: 283-292.

[17] MACPHERSON, E. 1981. Resource partitioning in a Mediterranean demersal community. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 4: 193-193.

[18] ______ . 1985. Daily ration and feeding periodicity of some fishes off coast of Namibia. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 26: 253-260.

[19] MEDVED, R.J. 1985. Gastric evacuation in the sandbar shark, Carcharinus plumbeus. Jour. Fish Biol. 26: 238-253.

[20] NELSON, G.A. & M.R. ROSS. 1995. Gastric evacuation in the little skate. Jour. Fish Biol. 46: 977-986.

[21] PARRISH, D.L. & F.J. MARGRAF. 1990. Gastric evacuation rates of white perch, Morone americana, determined from laboratory and field data. Env. Biol. Fish. 29: 155-158.

[22] PAYNE, A.I.L.; B. ROSE & R.W. LESLIE. 1987. Feeding of hake and a first attempt at determining their trophic role in the south African west coast marine environment. In: A.I.L. Payne, J.A. Gulland & K.H. Brink (Ed.). The Benguela and Comparable Ecosystems. S. Afr. Jour. mar. Sci. 5: 471-501.

[23] PEDERSEN, S.A. 1995. Feedings habits of starry ray (Raja radiata) in West Greenland waters. ICES Jour. mar. Sci. 52: 43-53.

[24] PIRES-VANIN, A.M.S. 1993. A macrofauna bêntica da plataforma continental ao largo de Ubatuba, São Paulo, Brasil. Publicação esp. Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, (10): 137-158.

[25] PIRES-VANIN, A.M.S.; J.P.S. JORGE & S. SARTOR. 1995. Variação diária e sazonal da fauna bêntica de plataforma continental no litoral norte do estado de São Paulo (The diel variation of the benthic fauna from São Paulo State northern coast, Brazil.). Publicação esp. Inst. oceanogr., São Paulo, (11): 107-114.

[26] ROBERTSON, A.I. & D. W. KLUMMP. 1983. Feeding habits of the southern Australian garfish Hyporhamphus melanochir: a diurnal herbivory and a nocturnal carnivore. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 10: 197-201.

[27] ROSSI-WONGTSCHOWSKI, C.L.D. & E.T. PAES. 1993. Padrões espaciais e temporais da comunidade de peixes demersais do litoral norte do Estado de São Paulo (Demersal fish community at Ubatuba region, southeastern Atlantic, Brazil: spatial and temporal patterns). Publicação esp. Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, (10): 169-188.

[28] SCHURDAK, M.E. & S.H. GRUBER. 1989. Gastric evacuation of the lemon shark Negaprion brevirostris (Poey) under controlled conditions. Exp. Biol. 48: 77-82.

[29] SCRIMGEOUR, G.J. & M.J. WlNTERBOURN. 1987. Diet, food resource partitioning and feeding periodicity of two riffle-dwelling fish species in a New Zealand river. Jour. Fish Biol. 31: 309-324.

[30] SMALE, M.J. & P.D. COWLEY. 1992. The feeding ecology of skates (Batoidea: Rajidae) off the Cape South Coast, South Africa. In: A.I.L. Payne; K.H. Brink; K.H. Mann; R. Hilborn (Ed.). Benguela Trophic Functioning. S. Afr. Jour, mar. Sci. 12: 823-834.

[31] SOARES, L.S.H. & R. APELBAUM. 1994. Atividade alimentar diária da cabrinha Prionotus punctatus (Teleostei: Triglidae) do litoral de Ubatuba, Brasil (Diel feeding of searobin Prionotus punctatus from Brazilian southeastern coast.). Bolm Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, 42: 85-98.

[32] SOARES, L.S.H.; C.L.D.B. ROSSI-WONGTSCHOWSKI; L.M.C. ALVARES; E.Y. MUTO & M.A. GASALLA. 1992. Grupos tráficos de peixes demersais da plataforma continental interna de Ubatuba, Brasil. I. Chondrichthyes (Trophic groups of demersal fish community from the continental shelf, Ubatuba, Brazil.). Bolm Inst, oceanogr., São Paulo, 40: 79-85.

[33] ZAR, J.H. 1996. Biostatistical analysis. New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 622p.

[34] ZAVALA-CAMIN, L.A. 1996. Introdução aos estudos sobre alimentação natural em peixes. Maringá, Eduem, 129p.