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Feeding Ecology of a Larval Fish Assemblage During its Passage Through a Coastal Inlet in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico

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Abstract

Throughout the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), coastal inlets provide vital pathways for marine fish larvae spawned offshore to reach estuarine nursery habitat. While survivorship of fish larvae is dependent on many factors, feeding success has been highlighted as the most important. Currently, little is known about the feeding ecology of larval fish during their passage through coastal inlets. The purpose of this study was to investigate the trophodynamics of fish larvae passing through a GoM estuarine tidal inlet during a fall spawning season. Several trophic niches existed within the δ13C’ and δ15N’ (lipid and baseline corrected values) stable isotope-derived food web of larval fish, with multiple taxa present within most trophic niches. These trophic niches changed throughout the fall season, however. Micropogonias undulatus, an estuarine-dependent species common to the region, was selected for a closer look at dietary shifts through ontogeny and showed an overall shift to higher trophic level prey with size, although there was not yet evidence of a shift towards estuarine prey indicative of settlement. Their diet mainly consisted of Calanoida copepods across all sizes of larvae with significant electivity for only Acartia (Calanoida), and this selection was likely due to a difference in behavior rather than taxonomy or size. This study provides information about larval fish trophodynamics at coastal inlets, advancing our understanding of larval fish survivorship and recruitment to adult fish stocks.

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Acknowledgements

Fish collection was conducted under TPWD Scientific Permit SPR-0316-065. We would like to thank the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Fisheries and Mariculture program for providing additional research funds. Thank you to Dr. Jim Tolan for advising and providing feedback on this text and throughout the project. Thank you to Dr. Benoit Lebreton and Dr. Paula Rose for their aid in stable isotope sample processing. Special thanks to Stormy Paxton, Jason Selwyn, Dr. Sterba-Boatwright, Chriss Shope, Polly Hajovsky, Shannan McAskill, Corbyn Porter, Daniel Hardin, Valeria Nunez, Lisa Gignac, Natasha Breaux, Melissa Rohal, Ashleigh Campbell, Cody Myers, Cristian Camacho, and Elizabeth Hunt for their help in field collections and sample processing.

Funding

This research was funded by the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi startup funds of S. Geist and followed ethical compliance standards (TAMUCC-AUP 03–16).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive TH 337, Corpus Christi, TX, 78412, USA

    Michelle Jenness Bromschwig & Simon Joscha Geist

  2. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, 1213 North Lakeshore Drive, Lake Charles, LA, 70601, USA

    Michelle Jenness Bromschwig

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  1. Michelle Jenness Bromschwig
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Correspondence to Michelle Jenness Bromschwig.

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Communicated by David G. Kimmel

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Bromschwig, M.J., Geist, S.J. Feeding Ecology of a Larval Fish Assemblage During its Passage Through a Coastal Inlet in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico. Estuaries and Coasts 45, 866–881 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-021-01002-4

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