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Comparative feeding ecology of four sympatric skate species off central California, USA

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An Erratum to this article was published on 25 October 2008

Abstract

The big (Raja binoculata), California (R. inornata), longnose (R. rhina), and sandpaper (Bathyraja kincaidii), skates are commonly found on soft-bottom regions of the central California continental shelf and upper slope. The feeding ecology of this assemblage was compared to evaluate the degree of trophic separation among species, based on the results of previous species-specific diet studies. Specimens were collected from fishery independent trawl surveys conducted during September 2002–March 2003 at depths of 9–536 m. Using single and compound measures, diet composition of small (≤60 cm TL) and large (>60 cm TL) individuals were compared within continental shelf (≤200 m) and slope (>200 m) regions using traditional, multivariate, and novel techniques. Diet compositions within size classes were similar in both regions. Diet compositions between size classes generally differed, however, with fishes more important and crustaceans (especially shrimps and euphausiids) less important in the diets of large individuals. Crabs contributed substantially to skate diet compositions on the shelf, but were uncommon prey items at deeper depths, probably because of their relative scarcity in slope waters. Conversely, cephalopods were common prey items at slope depths, but were rarely ingested at shelf depths. The studied skate assemblage appears to consist primarily of generalist crustacean and fish predators that exhibit high dietary overlap at similar sizes. It is possible that resource competition among skates and groundfish species has been reduced because of considerable recent declines in the biomass of upper trophic level groundfishes. Skates may therefore play important roles in contemporary benthic food web dynamics off central California.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Churchill Grimes, Don Pearson, John Field, E.J. Dick, and Alex MacCall of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Santa Cruz Laboratory, for providing the skates used in this study and Brooke Flammang, Daniele Ardizzone, Aaron Carlisle, Chante Davis, Rob Leaf, Colleena Perez, and Tonatiuh Trejo of the Pacific Shark Research Center (PSRC), Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML), for assisting with specimen processing. Thanks also to Jim Harvey, Lara Ferry-Graham, and Mike Graham of MLML for statistical advice, and to Stori Oates and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. Funding for this research was provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/NMFS (to the National Shark Research Consortium and PSRC), and by the National Sea Grant College Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under NOAA Grant no. NA04OAR4170038, project number R/F-199, through the California Sea Grant College Program and in part by the California State Resources Agency.

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  1. Pacific Shark Research Center, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Rd., Moss Landing, CA, 95039, USA

    Joseph J. Bizzarro, Heather J. Robinson, Christopher S. Rinewalt & David A. Ebert

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Correspondence to Joseph J. Bizzarro.

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An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10641-008-9428-5.

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Bizzarro, J.J., Robinson, H.J., Rinewalt, C.S. et al. Comparative feeding ecology of four sympatric skate species off central California, USA. Environ Biol Fish 80, 197–220 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-007-9241-6

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