Feeding habits of Urotrygon <i>microphthalmum</i> (Myliobatiformes: Urotrygonidae) caught off northeastern Brazil

The feeding habits of Urotrygon microphthalmum, a Critically Endangered (CR) species, were investigated through stomach contents analysis from specimens caught on bottom double rigged otter trawls in Pernambuco state, Brazil, between March of 2010 and March of 2012. A total of 338 stomachs were analyzed, and 31 food items were identified in the diet of U. microphthalmum. The species ingests mainly shrimps. The diets between males and females were not different, and an ontogenetic diet shift was not observed. The estimated species’ trophic level is 3.5, classifying it as a secondary order consumer.

Keywords:
Batoid; Diet; South Atlantic ray; Stomach contents; Trophic level

Authorship

Jones Santander-Neto

Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Espírito Santo - Campus Piúma, Rua Augusto Costa de Oliveira, 660, Praia Doce, 29285-000 Piúma, ES, Brazil. (JSN) jones.santander@ifes.edu.br (corresponding author).Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Espírito SantoBrazilPiúma, ES, BrazilInstituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Espírito Santo - Campus Piúma, Rua Augusto Costa de Oliveira, 660, Praia Doce, 29285-000 Piúma, ES, Brazil. (JSN) jones.santander@ifes.edu.br (corresponding author).

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8027-3388

Dante J. V. Freitas

Laboratório de Dinâmica de Populações Marinhas, Departamento de Pesca e Aquicultura, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE), Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, 52171-900 Recife, PE, Brazil. (DJVF) dantejvf@gmail.com; (RL) rptlessa@gmail.com.Universidade Federal Rural de PernambucoBrazilRecife, PE, BrazilLaboratório de Dinâmica de Populações Marinhas, Departamento de Pesca e Aquicultura, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE), Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, 52171-900 Recife, PE, Brazil. (DJVF) dantejvf@gmail.com; (RL) rptlessa@gmail.com.

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0314-1648

Hugo Bornatowski

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sistemas Costeiros e Oceânicos (PGSISCO), Universidade Federal do Paraná, 83255-976 Pontal do Paraná, PR, Brazil. (HB) anequim.bio@gmail.com.Universidade Federal do ParanáBrazilPontal do Paraná, PR, BrazilPrograma de Pós-Graduação em Sistemas Costeiros e Oceânicos (PGSISCO), Universidade Federal do Paraná, 83255-976 Pontal do Paraná, PR, Brazil. (HB) anequim.bio@gmail.com.

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2541-9639

Rosângela Lessa

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9217-1215

Edited-by

Jennifer Wyffels

Correspondence

Jones Santander-Neto jones.santander@ifes.edu.br

Author's Contribution

Jones Santander-Neto: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Visualization, Writing-original draft.

Dante Jordão de Vasconcelos Freitas: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing-original draft.

Hugo Bornatowski: Formal analysis, Methodology, Visualization, Writing-review and editing.

Rosângela Lessa: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Visualization, Writing-review and editing.

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical Statement

Not applicable.

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Figures | Tables

Figures (4)
Tables (1)

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FIGURE 1 |
Area of prawn-trawling fleet operation in: A) Jaboatão dos Guararapes; B) Barra de Sirinhaém.

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FIGURE 2 |
Size classes frequency distribution of Urotrygon microphthalmum. Values in horizontal axis are the centre of size classes. F = females; M = males.

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FIGURE 3 |
Prey accumulation curve of Urotrygon microphthalmum. Bold line represents mean values of Shannon-Wiener diversity index. Dotted lines represent standard deviation of the mean.

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FIGURE 4 |
Three-dimensional graphical representation of the percentage number, percentage weight, and percentage frequency of occurrence of the major taxa in the diet of Urotrygon microphthalmum. Food items grouping follow as proposed by Ebert, Bizzarro, (2007)Ebert DA, Bizzarro JJ. Standardized diet composition and trophic levels of skates (Chondrichthyes: Rajiformes: Rajoidei). Environ Biol Fish. 2007; 80:221–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-007-9227-4
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-007-9227-... . DECA: Decapod crustaceans; OCRUST: Other crustaceans and unidentified crustaceans; EUPH: Euphasiids and mysids; FISH: Teleost fishes; AMPH: Amphipods and isopods; POLY: Polychaetes and other marine worms; MOLL: Molluscs (excluding cephalopods) and unidentified mollusks.

Thumbnail

TABLE 1 |
Frequency of occurrence (FO), Percentage frequency of occurrence (%FO), Number (N), Percentage by number (%N), Weight (W), Percentage by weight (%W), and Index of importance (IRI) of food items present in the diet of Urotrygon microphthalmum.

FIGURE 1 | Area of prawn-trawling fleet operation in: A) Jaboatão dos Guararapes; B) Barra de Sirinhaém.

FIGURE 2 | Size classes frequency distribution of Urotrygon microphthalmum. Values in horizontal axis are the centre of size classes. F = females; M = males.

FIGURE 3 | Prey accumulation curve of Urotrygon microphthalmum. Bold line represents mean values of Shannon-Wiener diversity index. Dotted lines represent standard deviation of the mean.

FIGURE 4 | Three-dimensional graphical representation of the percentage number, percentage weight, and percentage frequency of occurrence of the major taxa in the diet of Urotrygon microphthalmum. Food items grouping follow as proposed by Ebert, Bizzarro, (2007)Ebert DA, Bizzarro JJ. Standardized diet composition and trophic levels of skates (Chondrichthyes: Rajiformes: Rajoidei). Environ Biol Fish. 2007; 80:221–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-007-9227-4
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-007-9227-... . DECA: Decapod crustaceans; OCRUST: Other crustaceans and unidentified crustaceans; EUPH: Euphasiids and mysids; FISH: Teleost fishes; AMPH: Amphipods and isopods; POLY: Polychaetes and other marine worms; MOLL: Molluscs (excluding cephalopods) and unidentified mollusks.

TABLE 1 | Frequency of occurrence (FO), Percentage frequency of occurrence (%FO), Number (N), Percentage by number (%N), Weight (W), Percentage by weight (%W), and Index of importance (IRI) of food items present in the diet of Urotrygon microphthalmum.

Items	FO	%FO	N	%N	W	%W	IRI
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Malacostraca
Crustacea	76	29.57	156	8.35	1.96	9.99	542.26
Order Amphipoda
Orchomenella minuta	21	8.17	31	1.66	0.16	0.79	20.03
Order Cumacea
Cumacea	10	3.89	18	0.96	0.10	0.53	5.80
Order Decapoda
Decapoda	137	53.31	1019	54.55	9.97	50.94	5623.68
Sub-order Dendrobranchiata
Dendrobranchiata	17	6.61	39	2.09	1.17	5.97	53.27
Super-family Penaeoidea
Penaeoidea	2	0.78	3	0.16	0.07	0.37	0.41
Family Penaeidae
Fartantepenaeus sp.	1	0.39	1	0.05	0.02	0.08	0.05
Penaeidae	20	7.78	49	2.62	0.77	3.94	51.06
Rimapenaeus constrictus	1	0.39	1	0.05	0.12	0.63	0.27
Xiphopenaeus kroyeri	1	0.39	1	0.05	0.02	0.12	0.07
Family Sicyoniidae
Sicyoniidae	3	1.17	7	0.37	0.22	1.12	1.75
Sicyonia sp.	2	0.78	2	0.11	0.19	0.98	0.85
Sicyonia dorsalis	3	1.17	9	0.48	0.20	1.01	1.74
Super-family Sergestoidea
Sergestoidea	2	0.78	6	0.32	0.05	0.28	0.46
Sub-order Pleocyemata
Infra-order Brachyura
Brachyura	4	1.56	4	0.21	0.12	0.59	1.25
Family Portunidae
Portunidae	1	0.39	1	0.05	0.07	0.34	0.15
Infra-order Caridea
Caridea	4	1.56	11	0.59	0.11	0.57	1.80
Family Ogyrididae
Ogyrides sp.	1	0.39	2	0.11	0.05	0.24	0.14
Ogyrides alphaerostris	3	1.17	5	0.27	0.09	0.45	0.84
Ogyrididae	4	1.56	5	0.27	0.08	0.40	1.04
Family Palemonidae
Palemonidae	2	0.78	5	0.27	0.15	0.77	0.80
Family Pasiphaeidae
Leptochela serratorbita	10	3.89	22	1.18	0.44	2.23	13.27
Order Isopoda
Family Sphaeromatidae
Sphaeromatidae	13	5.06	33	1.77	0.18	0.91	13.56
Order Mysidacea
Mysidacea	30	11.67	350	18.74	2.73	13.96	381.67
Order Stomatopoda
Stomatopoda	1	0.39	1	0.05	0.01	0.05	0.04
Family Lysiosquillidae
Lysiosquillidae	1	0.39	1	0.05	0.01	0.05	0.04
Phylum Mollusca
Mollusca	2	0.78	2	0.11	0.01	0.05	0.12
Phylum Annelida
Annelida	6	2.33	34	1.82	0.08	0.38	5.14
Class Polychaeta
Polychaeta	5	1.95	6	0.32	0.04	0.19	0.99
Phylum Chordata
Class Actinopterygii
Teleosteii	36	14.01	39	2.09	0.35	1.77	54.07
Family Cynoglossidae
Symphurus sp.	5	1.95	5	0.27	0.06	0.33	1.16
TOTAL	424	164.98	1868	100.00	19.58	100.00	6777.77

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Sociedade Brasileira de Ictiologia Neotropical Ichthyology, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura, Universidade Estadual de Maringá., Av. Colombo, 5790, 87020-900, Phone number: +55 44-3011-4632 - Maringá - PR - Brazil
E-mail: neoichth@nupelia.uem.br

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Feeding habits of Urotrygon <i>microphthalmum</i> (Myliobatiformes: Urotrygonidae) caught off northeastern Brazil

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[1] Edited-by

Jennifer Wyffels