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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2012, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (02): 536-544.

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Dietary composition and food competition of six main fish species in rocky reef habitat off Gouqi Island.

WANG Kai1, ZHANG Shou-yu1, WANG Zhen-hua1, ZHAO Jing1, XU Min1, Lin Jun1,2   

  1. 1College of Marine Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China; 2East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Shanghai 200090, China
  • Online:2012-02-18 Published:2012-02-18

Abstract: Based on the monthly investigation data of fish resources in the rocky reef habitat off Gouqi Island
 from March 2009 to February 2010, this paper studied the dietary composition of three native fish species (Sebasticus marmoratus, Hexagrammos otakii and Hexagrammos agrammus) and three non-native fish species (Lateolabrax japonica, Nibea albiflora and Larimichthys polyactis). The analysis of gut content indicated that the main prey items of these six dominant fish species were Caprellidae, Gammaridea, juvenile S. marmoratus, Engraulis japonicas and Acetes chinensis and the dietary composition of each of the 6 fish species had obvious seasonal variation. There was an intense food competition between native species H. otakii and H. agrammus in autumn, between non-native species N. albiflora and L. polyactis in summer, between non-native species N. albiflora and native species S. marmoratus in autumn, and between non-native species N. albiflora and native species H. otakii in winter. It was suggested the non-native species N. albiflora was the key species in the food competition among the six dominant fish species in this rocky reef habitat, and thus the feeding behaviors of these six fish species could have definite effects on the resource capacity of juvenile S. marmoratus.

Key words: fish, dietary overlap, food competition, rocky reef habitat, Gouqi Island