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THE ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF FINE PARTICLE SELECTION BY THE STRIPED MULLET MUGIL CEPHALUS 1
Author(s) -
Odum William E.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1968.13.1.0092
Subject(s) - mugil , mullet , sediment , particle (ecology) , microorganism , particle size , environmental chemistry , fishery , environmental science , biology , mineralogy , chemistry , ecology , bacteria , fish <actinopterygii> , paleontology
By tracer experiments using 32 P and a comparison of sediment and stomach content particle sizes, Mugil cephalus Linnaeus is shown to prefer very fine particles wherever sediments are involved in feeding. It is suggested that these small inorganic and plant detrital sediment particles are much richer both in absorbed organic material and in adsorbed bacteria, Protozoa, and other microorganisms than the coarser material that the mullet rejects. This selectivity results in substantially higher organic values of the stomach contents than of the sediments.