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Gastric Evacuation Rates of Piscivorous Young‐of‐the‐Year Bluefish
Author(s) -
Buckel Jeffrey A.,
Conover David O.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1996)125<0591:geropy>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - bay , fishery , biology , predation , bass (fish) , predator , zoology , ecology , oceanography , geology
Estimates of gastric evacuation rates (GER) are needed to calculate consumption rates of fish from field‐collected data on stomach contents. The results of 16 GER experiments designed to determine the effects of body size, prey type, and temperature on the GER in young‐of‐the‐year (age‐0) bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix are presented. The linear, square‐root, and exponential GER models similarly fit the data. Temperature had a highly significant effect on age‐0 bluefish GER. However, there was no significant difference in GER between small (5.14 g wet weight) and large (35.99 g wet weight) age‐0 bluefish. Among the three different prey types tested (age‐0 striped bass Morone saxatilis , bay anchovy Anchoa mitchilli , and age‐0 Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus ) there was no significant difference in GER. The exponential relation between bluefish GER and temperature can be used in estimating age‐0 bluefish consumption rates in the field.