Genelt-Yanovskaya, A.S.; Genelt-Yanovskiy, E.A.; Polyakova, N.V.; Ivanov, M.V.; Ivanova, T.S.; Lajus, D.L. Food Selectivity in Juvenile Three-Spined Stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L. (Gasterosteidae) at Nursery Grounds in the White Sea. J. Mar. Sci. Eng.2023, 11, 2369.
Genelt-Yanovskaya, A.S.; Genelt-Yanovskiy, E.A.; Polyakova, N.V.; Ivanov, M.V.; Ivanova, T.S.; Lajus, D.L. Food Selectivity in Juvenile Three-Spined Stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L. (Gasterosteidae) at Nursery Grounds in the White Sea. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11, 2369.
Genelt-Yanovskaya, A.S.; Genelt-Yanovskiy, E.A.; Polyakova, N.V.; Ivanov, M.V.; Ivanova, T.S.; Lajus, D.L. Food Selectivity in Juvenile Three-Spined Stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L. (Gasterosteidae) at Nursery Grounds in the White Sea. J. Mar. Sci. Eng.2023, 11, 2369.
Genelt-Yanovskaya, A.S.; Genelt-Yanovskiy, E.A.; Polyakova, N.V.; Ivanov, M.V.; Ivanova, T.S.; Lajus, D.L. Food Selectivity in Juvenile Three-Spined Stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L. (Gasterosteidae) at Nursery Grounds in the White Sea. J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11, 2369.
Abstract
The spatial and temporal variability in dietary preferences of juvenile three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, was studied across typical coastal habitats of Keret Archipelago, Kandalaksha Bay, the White Sea. Sampling of fish using beach seine was implemented in late July-early August and in late August, and zooplankton samples were collected to make a quantitative evaluation of abundance of potential prey items. Similarity Percentage (SIMPER) analysis implemented over the data obtained from stomach content analysis revealed five planktonic taxa mostly contributing to the diet of juvenile sticklebacks, of which copepod Temora longicornis was the most important prey item at marine sites, while Acartia longiremis prevailed in diet of fishes in marine lagoon. Calculation of selectivity index demonstrated that some taxa (e.g., A. longiremis) were always avoided by juvenile fishes, others (e.g. Microsetella norvegica) were firstly avoided and then selected in late August. Calculation of selectivity index was implemented per sample and per individual fish indicated that taxa like T. longicornis and were selected during the whole period of study, fishes demonstrated pronounced individual variation in prey selectivity. In general, data on selectivity indicated that despite juvenile sticklebacks feed on mostly available prey items, they can demonstrate taxonomic and size-specific prey selectivity.
Keywords
food selectivity; stickleback; three-spined stickleback; Gasterosteus aculeatus; the White Sea; zooplankton; fish nursery grounds; intertidal communities
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Aquatic Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
