Trophic resource partitioning among four sympatric lutjanid species in the southern Mexican Caribbean Sea

Abstract

ABSTRACT Snappers are marine fishes that inhabit reef ecosystems and have a wide distribution throughout tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. These species are resources of economic importance, there is a lack of biological and ecological knowledge about these species in the studied area, and their meat is highly valued for human consumption. To contribute to the ecological knowledge, this work reports on the feeding habits of four species of snapper: Lutjanus synagris, Lutjanus griseus, Lutjanus analis and Lutjanus apodus, through the identification of stomach contents and a similarity analysis for the diets. Results showed that the most important prey items were crustaceans. Differences were found in the consumption of specific prey: Portunus were mainly consumed by L. griseus; Cronius was consumed by L. apodus; and Pitho was consumed by L. analis and L. synagris. Identification of prey species to genus and species levels allowed the characterization of the feeding habits of these sympatric species and highlighted the need for research programmes focused on crustaceans that guarantee their availability and abundance in the ecosystem.