Feeding ecology of age-0 walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) and Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) in the southeastern Bering Sea

Abstract

Walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) and Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) are of particular economic and ecological importance in the southeastern Bering Sea. The spatial and temporal overlap of early life stages of both species may explain their strongly correlated recruitment trends. Pelagic larvae and juveniles were collected during four research cruises in May, July and September of 2008, an exceptionally cold year, and their stomach contents were examined. Feeding success and diet composition of walleye pollock and Pacific cod were consistently different in spring, summer, and fall. Pacific cod larvae and juveniles always consumed larger and progressively fewer prey items per stomach than walleye pollock; this difference was particularly pronounced in the fall. Our data suggest that co-occurring early life stages of walleye pollock and Pacific cod were dividing prey resources rather than competing for them, at least during the exceptionally cold conditions in 2008 in the southeastern Bering Sea.