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Feeding strategy of juvenile (age‐0+ year) Argentine hake Merluccius hubbsi in the Patagonian nursery ground
Author(s) -
Temperoni B.,
Viñas M. D.,
Buratti C. C.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/jfb.12238
Subject(s) - pelagic zone , demersal zone , biology , merluccius , fishery , hake , population , euphausia , juvenile , demersal fish , krill , euphausiacea , predation , oceanography , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , demography , sociology , geology
Age‐0+ year juvenile Argentine hake Merluccius hubbsi (60–150 mm total length, L T ) from San Jorge Gulf, north Patagonian shelf region of the Argentine Sea, had an almost exclusively pelagic diet dominated by the hyperiid amphipod Themisto gaudichaudii and the euphausiid Euphausia lucens . This suggested that final settlement and permanent demersal habitat utilization might not, as previously reported, occur at earlier sizes ( c . 20 mm L T ). Their feeding strategy involves specialization at a population level towards both the main pelagic prey, indicating a narrow trophic niche. Novel data are provided which contribute to the growing body of information in relation to the age‐0+ year transitional stage in demersal fishes and particularly to M. hubbsi recruitment in the Argentine Sea.