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Summer and spring trophic niche of larval and juvenile Pleuragramma antarcticum in the Western Ross Sea, Antarctica

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge on the feeding habits of larvae and juvenile Pleuragramma antarcticum in the western Ross Sea. In summer, the diet of P. antarcticum postlarvae (8–17 mm) was dominated by calanoid eggs (35.5%), Limacina (32.1%) and tintinnids (17.6%), while the principal food of juveniles consisted mainly of copepods (98.2%), with Oncaea curvata being the most abundant (85.1%) and the most frequently consumed prey. The food composition of P. antarcticum postlarvae (24–29 mm), collected in spring, suggest that they fed actively under the sea ice. Stephos longipes, Harpacticus furcifer and Paralabidocera antarctica sea ice copepods represent, in all their different developmental stages, the most abundant biomass food in Terra Nova Bay in this period. Our results therefore suggest that the diet of younger Pleuragramma specimens shifted in prey composition from the first summer to the following spring. This study draws attention to the key role of the copepod, P. antarctica, in the food web of Terra Nova Bay.

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Acknowledgments

Logistical and financial support for this paper was given by the Italian National Project for Antarctic Research (PNRA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DBAEM, Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia Marina, Università di Messina, Salita Sperone 31, 98166, Messina, Italy

    Antonia Granata, Giacomo Zagami & Letterio Guglielmo

  2. ICRAM, c/o Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide, Università di Genova, Viale Benedetto XV, 5, 16132, Genoa, Italy

    Marino Vacchi

Authors
  1. Antonia Granata
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  2. Giacomo Zagami
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  3. Marino Vacchi
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  4. Letterio Guglielmo
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Correspondence to Antonia Granata.

Additional information

This article belongs to a special topic: Five articles coordinated by L. Guglielmo and V. Saggiomo appear in this issue of Polar Biology and are a result of a workshop on Sea-ice communities in Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea) held in August 2007 in Capo Calavà, Messina, Italy.

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Granata, A., Zagami, G., Vacchi, M. et al. Summer and spring trophic niche of larval and juvenile Pleuragramma antarcticum in the Western Ross Sea, Antarctica. Polar Biol 32, 369–382 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-008-0551-8

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