Feeding biology of the flatfish Citharichthys spilopterus (Bothidae) in a tropical estuary of Mexico

Abstract

The flatfish Citharichthys spilopterus Günther 1862 is the most common bothid in the coastal lagoons of the Gulf of Mexico. The objective of the present study was to describe the trophic biology of this species in the tropical coastal lagoon of Tampamachoco, Mexico. For the diet analysis, we used multivariate discriminant analysis and trophic niche breadth. The morphological analysis showed that the features of the bucco-pharyngeal cavity, the large stomach and the short intestine of this flatfish relate to a carnivorous habit. The overall diet showed that this species is a third-order consumer, feeding mainly on fish (52%, mainly gobies) and crustaceans (36%, mostly decapods). Diet and trophic niche breadth showed no significant differences between sexes (P > 0.1). By contrast, there were significant ontogenetic differences in the diet and trophic niche breadth, where larger C. spilopterus were almost entirely piscivorous and showed the narrowest trophic niche. As the flatfish grew in size there was a trend toward the consumption of larger prey. The importance of copepods and peracarids correlated inversely with flatfish size (P < 0.001), but fish prey correlated directly to flatfish size (P < 0.001). Likewise, there was an inverse significant correlation between niche trophic breadth and flatfish size (P < 0.005). There were also significant seasonal differences in the diet (P < 0.02), related to the availability and vulnerability of prey in the lagoon during the dry and rainy seasons. However, the trophic niche showed no significant differences between seasons. Finally, we discuss the advantages of discriminant analysis applied to evaluate differences among diets of fish groups when compared with other bivariate and multivariate techniques.