First report of lionfish prey from Western Florida waters as identified by DNA barcoding.

Carlos A. Santamaria,Taylor M. Greenan,James Locascio

doi:10.7717/peerj.9922

Carlos A. Santamaria, Taylor M. Greenan + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9922

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Abstract

DNA barcoding was used to identify prey fragments recovered from the stomachs of lionfish harvested during the 2016 Sarasota Lionfish Derby. A total of 305 prey fragments were recovered from 50 stomachs (mean = 4.6 per stomach), of which 184 (60.3%) fragments could be identified to either species or genus when Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) sequences were queried against the Barcode of Life Database. We identified 21 fish prey species which represented fourteen families and accounted for 95.7% of genetically identifiable prey items. The remaining prey items identified corresponded to six crustacean species. The four most common prey taxa in lionfish stomachs were Ptereleotris calliura (24.3%), an unidentified Microgobius species (20.4%), Diplectum formosum (14.3%), and Apogon aurolineatus (12.2%). The most frequently observed crustacean species, Metapenaeopsis goodei, was found in only three stomachs (6.1%). We also report eleven taxa as putative novel lionfish prey species, most of which are common in Florida waters. Sixteen prey items were identified as lionfish (P. volitans); however, it was not definitive whether these detections were due to cross contamination or cannibalization. This represents the first report of lionfish diets from Florida waters in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico based on barcoding efforts. Our results are largely congruent with previous COI barcoding based studies of lionfish diets, indicating these predators to be generalists exhibiting preferences for specific prey traits but with regional differences in their diets.

Highlights

Native to the Indo-Pacific, lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) have quickly become established in reefs and coastal habitats throughout the Western Atlantic since their introduction in the 1980s
Previous studies have shown lionfish in the Western Atlantic feed primarily on fish species and that a large degree of overlap in the taxonomic composition of prey exists across the region (Valdez-Moreno et al, 2012; Côté et al, 2013; Rocha et al, 2015; Harms-Tuohy, Schizas & Appeldoorn, 2016; Dahl et al, 2017, 2018; Sancho et al, 2018)
By applying molecular approaches to identify prey fragments recovered from lionfish stomachs collected in the Gulf of Mexico off the South Florida coastline we report patterns broadly consistent with previous findings

Summary

Introduction

Native to the Indo-Pacific, lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) have quickly become established in reefs and coastal habitats throughout the Western Atlantic since their introduction in the 1980s. Halichoeres socialis (Rocha et al, 2015), and drive declines in reef fish populations (Green et al, 2012; Albins, 2013, 2015) Controlled experiments exemplify these concerns, as they have shown lionfish to drive abundance declines and loss of species in Bahamian reefs at higher rates than native predators of similar sizes (Albins, 2013) and population declines of >50% in native species in experimental replicates (Ingeman, 2016). These findings underscore the importance of defining the prey preferences of lionfish in the Western Atlantic, in areas where lionfish are relatively understudied

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