Abstract
The foundation of food web analysis is a solid understanding of predator-prey associations. Traditional dietary studies of fishes have been by stomach content analysis. However, these methods are not applicable to Critically Endangered species such as the smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata). Previous research using the combination of stable isotope signatures from fin clips and 18S rRNA gene sequencing of fecal samples identified the smalltooth sawfish as piscivorous at low taxonomic resolution. Here, we present a high taxonomic resolution molecular technique for identification of prey using opportunistically acquired fecal samples. To assess potential biases, primer sets of two mitochondrial genes, 12S and 16S rRNA, were used alongside 18S rRNA, which targets a wider spectrum of taxa. In total, 19 fish taxa from 7 orders and 11 families native to the Gulf of Mexico were successfully identified. The sawfish prey comprised diverse taxa, indicating that this species is a generalist piscivore. These findings and the molecular approach used will aid recovery planning for the smalltooth sawfish and have the potential to reveal previously unknown predator-prey associations from a wide range of taxa, especially rare and hard to sample species.
Highlights
The foundation of food web analysis is a solid understanding of predator-prey associations
Recent research using the combination of stable isotope signatures from fin clips and 18S rRNA gene sequencing of fecal samples identified the smalltooth sawfish as piscivorous at low taxonomic resolution[11]
Traditional dietary studies of fishes have mainly focused on stomach content analysis, using invasive methods that cannot be used to study Critically Endangered species such as the smalltooth sawfish
Summary
The foundation of food web analysis is a solid understanding of predator-prey associations. The sawfish prey comprised diverse taxa, indicating that this species is a generalist piscivore These findings and the molecular approach used will aid recovery planning for the smalltooth sawfish and have the potential to reveal previously unknown predator-prey associations from a wide range of taxa, especially rare and hard to sample species. Based on Poulakis and colleagues[11] previous findings, we expected to find that smalltooth sawfish fed upon rays and various teleost fish species, some of which may be of anthropogenic interest, putting them in direct competition with humans These data will improve recovery planning for this Critically Endangered species and the analysis technique has the potential to reveal previously unknown predator-prey associations of a wide range of taxa, especially rare and hard to sample species
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