Abstract
The diet composition of the Atlantic lizardfish Synodus saurus , caught on sandy bottoms of the north-western coast of Sicily (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) is described. The stomachs of 224 specimens (from 73 to 280 mm TL) were collected between June 2005 and May 2006. The analysis of stomach contents showed that this species is almost exclusively piscivorous. Unlike other benthic predators of the study area, it mainly feeds on pelagic school-forming fish, such as Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Myctophidae and juveniles of Sparidae and Centracanthidae, and benthic prey play a secondary role. The diet of S. saurus is related to the seasonal availability of resources, depending on the occurrence of juveniles of several species and on the migration of pelagic fishes in the study area. There were no significant changes in prey items between predator length groups, but a positive, significant linear relationship between prey size and predator size was recorded.
Highlights
The Atlantic lizardfish, Synodus saurus (Linnaeus, 1758), is an epibenthic subtropical fish belonging to the Synodontidae family, distributed in the Mediterranean Sea, the eastern Atlantic fromMorocco to Cape Verde, including the Azores, and the western Atlantic from Bermuda and the Bahamas to the Lesser Antilles (Leeward Islands) (Sulak, 1986; Bauchot, 1987)
The diet of S. saurus is related to the seasonal availability of resources, depending on the occurrence of juveniles of several species and on the migration of pelagic fishes in the study area
Of samples with empty and non-empty stomachs for 20 mm total length (TL) classes is shown in Figure 2; specimens ranged from 73 to 280 mm TL and were almost distributed in all size classes, with a predominance of lengths between 200 and 220 mm
Summary
The Atlantic lizardfish, Synodus saurus (Linnaeus, 1758), is an epibenthic subtropical fish belonging to the Synodontidae family, distributed in the Mediterranean Sea, the eastern Atlantic fromMorocco to Cape Verde, including the Azores, and the western Atlantic from Bermuda and the Bahamas to the Lesser Antilles (Leeward Islands) (Sulak, 1986; Bauchot, 1987). The Atlantic lizardfish, Synodus saurus (Linnaeus, 1758), is an epibenthic subtropical fish belonging to the Synodontidae family, distributed in the Mediterranean Sea, the eastern Atlantic from. Primarily at depths less than 50 m with occasional records of 400 m (Sulak, 1986; Bauchot, 1987). It is a dioecious species and its spawning period falls within the spring and summer months, with a reproductive peak in July, both in the Atlantic Ocean (Sousa et al, 2003) and the Mediterranean Sea (Golani, 1993). Despite spending most of its time buried in the sand, the lizardfish is a highly mobile predator that can capture pelagic fishes in midwater (Soares et al, 2003). Soares et al (2002) made underwater observations of the predatory behaviour of S. saurus in Azorean waters and found that lizardfish compete for territory through intraspecific agonistic interactions and occasionally through non-agonistic interspecific relations (e.g. with Bothus podas maderensis)
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