Partitioning of food resources among three sympatric scorpionfish (Scorpaeniformes) in coastal waters of the northern Yellow Sea

• Published in: Hydrobiologia Vol. 826; no. 1; pp. 331 - 351
• Main Authors: Wu, Zhongxin, Zhang, Xiumei, Dromard, Charlotte R., Tweedley, James R., Loneragan, Neil R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 2019; Springer Nature B.V; Springer
• Subjects: Algae; Animal biology; Aquatic crustaceans; Artificial reefs; Bayesian analysis; Biodiversity and Ecology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carnivorous animals; Coastal waters; Coexistence; Composition; Crustaceans; Ecology; Ecology, environment; Ecosystems; Environmental Sciences; Fish; Food; Food resources; Food sources; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Hexagrammos agrammus; Hexagrammos otakii; Life Sciences; Marine fishes; Mathematical models; Offshore; Offshore structures; Partitioning; Predators; Prey; Primary Research Paper; Probability theory; Resource partitioning; Seaweeds; Sebastes schlegelii; Species; Stability; Stable isotopes; Stomach; Stomach content; Sympatric populations; Vertebrate Zoology; Zoology; INW, Huanghai Sea; Competition; Stomach content analyses; Artificial reef; Stable isotope analyses; artificial reef; Hexagrammos; competition; Sebastes; stomach contents analyses; stable isotope analyses
• ISSN: 0018-8158; 1573-5117
• DOI: 10.1007/s10750-018-3747-0

The partitioning of food resources among three abundant co-occurring reef-associated scorpionfish, Hexagrammos agrammus , Hexagrammos otakii and Sebastes schlegelii , was determined on an artificial reef zone in nearshore and offshore coastal waters of northern China, using stomach content and stable isotope analyses (δ 13 C and δ 15 N). The three species consumed similar prey items, mainly a variety of crustaceans, teleosts, polychaetes and macroalgae, but the proportions of the items differed among species. The dietary composition of all three scorpionfish differed significantly in nearshore waters, but not between H. otakii and S. schlegelii in offshore waters, where both species fed predominantly on carideans, penaeids and brachyurans. The δ 13 C values varied significantly among the three scorpionfish in nearshore waters, and tended towards significance ( P  = 0.053 ) between H. otakii and S. schlegelii in offshore waters, suggesting that they partition food resources. Bayesian mixing models further confirmed that all scorpionfish were generalist carnivorous and that the main food sources were assimilated in different proportions. In the nearshore waters, resource partitioning occurs among the three scorpionfish, reducing the potential for competition and the feeding ecology implies that they have dietary plasticity, which facilitates their coexistence and maintains local benthic fish community stability.