Abstract
European hake (Merluccius merluccius) is one of the most economically important fish for the Mediterranean Sea. It is an important predator of deep upper shelf slope communities currently characterized by growth overexploitation: the understanding of hake's diet might support next generation management tools. However, all current European hake diet studies depend on the morphological identification of prey remains in stomach content, with consequent limitations. In this study, we set up a metabarcoding approach based on cytochrome oxidase I PCR amplification and Miseq Illumina paired‐end sequencing of M. merluccius stomach content remains and compared the results to classic morphological analyses. A total of 95 stomach contents of M. merluccius sampled in the North‐Central Adriatic Sea were analyzed with both the metabarcoding and morphological approaches. Metabarcoding clearly outperformed the morphological method in the taxonomic identification of prey describing more complex trophic relationships even when considering the morphological identification of 200 stomach contents. Statistical analysis of diet composition revealed a weak differentiation among the hake's size classes, confirming an opportunistic feeding behavior. All the analyses performed showed the presence of a core of shared prey among the size classes and a cloud of size‐specific prey. Our study highlights the exceptional potential of metabarcoding as an approach to provide unprecedented taxonomic resolution in the diet of M. merluccius and potentially of other marine predators, due to the broad‐spectrum of detection of the primers used. A thorough description of these complex trophic relationships is fundamental for the implementation of an ecosystem approach to fisheries.
Highlights
Quantitative assessment of food habits is an important aspect of fisheries management as the knowledge of both predator and prey resources can help guide management efforts aimed at increasing fish production
We set up a metabarcoding approach based on cytochrome oxidase I (COI) PCR amplification of stomach content remains of five size classes of M. merluccius of the Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea)
The diet of M. merluccius in the North-Central Adriatic did not show any evidence for specialization using prey-specific abundance index (Amundsen et al, 1996; Prey-specific abundance (PSA) < 0.5; Figure 7) computed both on metabarcoding and morphological data, and the highest value of PSA is obtained for A. glaber (0.37)
Summary
Quantitative assessment of food habits is an important aspect of fisheries management as the knowledge of both predator and prey resources can help guide management efforts aimed at increasing fish production. The feeding habits of European hake have been described widely in the Mediterranean (Bozzano, Sardà, & Ríos, 2005; Carpentieri, Colloca, & Ardizzone, 2008; Carpentieri et al, 2005; Cartes, Rey, Lloris, & De Sola, 2004; Froglia, 1973; Papaconstantinou & Caragitsou, 1987; Sartor, Carlini, & De Ranieri, 2003; Stagioni, Montanini, & Vallisneri, 2011; Ungaro, Mannini, & Vrgoč, 2003), they show important differences justified by the opportunistic behavior of this predator According to these works based on the morphological identification of prey remains in stomachs, adult hakes feed mainly on fish (anchovies, pilchard and gadoid species) and squids whereas the juveniles (
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