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Degree of herbivory and intestinal morphology in nine notothenioid fishes from the western Antarctic Peninsula

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Abstract

Although many notothenioid fishes are primarily carnivorous, some species consistently feed on macroalgae and are therefore omnivorous. Among fish, the degree of herbivory is usually reflected in the morphology of the gastrointestinal system especially intestine length. We examined a large number of juvenile and adult specimens of nine sympatric notothenioid species collected sequentially over eight summer seasons at Potter Cove, South Shetland Islands. We provide relative intestine lengths (RIL), distinct proportions of algae and animal prey in the diets (W%), and numbers of pyloric caeca for all species. The sister species Notothenia coriiceps (NOC) and N. rossii (NOR) evidenced significantly different intestinal growth over ontogeny and ate distinctly different proportions of algae and animal prey. We establish a ranking of the degree of herbivory for the fish species in the local ecosystem, and this was found to be related to their distinct feeding types and strategies. There is a correspondence between intestine length/RILs and degree of herbivory in six of the nine species analysed but no clear association between the number of pyloric caeca and degree of omnivory or carnivory. Compared to other teleosts, our results, and those in the literature, indicate modest divergence in notothenioids that include a phylogenetic decrease in the number of pyloric caeca, from 6 to 7 in most nototheniids to 2–3 in channichthyids, and a 1.8-fold difference in average relative intestine lengths which are most frequently 50–70% of body length and never exceed body length. This is consistent with the unspecialized gastrointestinal morphology that reflects the dietary and ecological plasticity of many notothenioids, exemplified by the high degree of omnivory in species such as NOC and NOR.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Carlos Bellisio for his help in field activities and laboratory tasks and to Mina Gordon for her help in the manuscript preparation. We thank three referees, Drs. M. Vacchi, E. Riginella and R.R. Eakin, for their constructive comments. This study was supported by grants from Dirección Nacional del Antártico, Instituto Antártico Argentino (PICTA 0100), PIP 2017–2019 GI 11220170100219CO, Resolution 2018-8-APN-DIR#CONICET and PICT 2018-03310, Resolution 401/19.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Antártico Argentino, Av. 25 de Mayo, 1143, San Martín, Prov. de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Eugenia Moreira & Esteban Barrera-Oro

  2. Laboratorio de Biología Funcional Y Biotecnología (BIOLAB) - UNCPBA-CICBA - INBIOTEC-CONICET. Facultad de Agronomía, UNCPBA, Av. República de Italia 780, Azul, 7300, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Eugenia Moreira

  3. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas Y Técnicas (CONICET), Godoy Cruz, 2290, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Eugenia Moreira, Manuel Novillo & Esteban Barrera-Oro

  4. División Ictiología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” MACN-CONICET, Angel Gallardo, 470, CABA, Argentina

    Manuel Novillo & Esteban Barrera-Oro

  5. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Joseph T. Eastman

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  1. Eugenia Moreira
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Correspondence to Eugenia Moreira.

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Moreira, E., Novillo, M., Eastman, J.T. et al. Degree of herbivory and intestinal morphology in nine notothenioid fishes from the western Antarctic Peninsula. Polar Biol 43, 535–544 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02655-w

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