An approach to identifying the feeding patterns of lobsters using chemical analysis and pattern recognition by the method of SIMCA. II. Attempts at assigning stomach contents of lobsters, Homarus gammarus (L.), to infauna and detritus

Abstract

Juvenile lobsters ( Homarus gammarus (L.), Stage IV were allowed to feed on natural sand for 2 and 24 h. The stomachs were then subjected to total methanolysis and the HRGC peak patterns of non-polar hexane-extractable compounds were compared with those obtained from the same chemical analysis of five infaunal taxonomic groups and detritus using the pattern recognition method of SIMCA in level 1 and level 2. Most of the compounds used for the SIMCA analysis have been identified as fatty acids using HRGC-MS. The results indicated that polychaetes were a major part of the diet in the first 2-h stomachs. Both stomach samples were well classified, but there was a substantial difference between 2 h and 24 h. The results also indicate that the material defined as detritus is not a major part of the lobsters' diet.