Abstract
To determine the feasibility of using stable isotopes to track diet shifts in wild gag, Mycteroperca microlepis, populations over seasonal timescales, we conducted a repeated measures diet-shift experiment on four adult gag held in the laboratory. Fish were initially fed a diet of Atlantic mackerel, Scomber scombrus, (mean δ13C = −21.3‰ ± 0.2, n = 20) for a period of 56 days and then shifted to a diet of pinfish, Lagodon rhomboids, (mean δ13C = −16.6‰ ± 0.6, n = 20) for the 256 day experiment. We developed a non-lethal surgical procedure to obtain biopsies of the muscle, liver, and gonad tissue monthly from the same four fish. We then determined the δ13C value of each tissue by isotope ratio mass spectrometry. For the gonad tissue we used the relationship between C/N and lipid content to correct for the influence of lipids on δ13C value. We observed a significant shift in the δ13C values of all of the tissues sampled in the study. Carbon turnover rates varied among the three tissues, but the shift in diet from mackerel to pinfish was clearly traceable through analysis of δ13C values. The turnover rates for muscle tissue were 0.005‰ day−1, and for gonad tissue was 0.009‰ day−1. Although it is generally thought that tissue turnover rates in ectotherms are driven primarily by growth, we found that metabolic rate can be a major factor driving tissue turnover in adult gag.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allendorf F, Brett J, Cowey C, Donaldson E, Fagerlund U, Fange R, Gold J, Grove D, Groves T, Higgs D, Hyatt K, McBride J, Peter R, Ricker W, Terner C (1979) Bioenergetics and growth. Academic, New York, 786 pp
Ayliffe LK, Cerling TE, Robinson T, West AG, Sponheimer M, Passey BH, Hammer J, Roeder B, Dearing MD, Ehleringer JR (2004) Turnover of carbon isotopes in tail hair and breath CO2 of horses fed an isotopically varied diet. Oecologia 139:11–22
Berkeley S, Chapman C, Sogard S (2004) Maternal age as a determinant of larval growth and survival in a marine fish, Sebastes melanops. Ecology 85:1258–1264
Bosley KL, Witting DA, Chambers RC, Wainright SC (2002) Estimating turnover rates of carbon and nitrogen in recently metamorphosed winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus with stable isotopes. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 236:233–240
Chanton JP, Lewis FG (2002) Examination of coupling between primary and secondary production in a river-dominated estuary: Apalachicola Bay, Florida, USA. Limnol Oceanogr 47:683–697
DeNiro MJ, Epstein S (1977) Mechanism of carbon isotope fractionation associated with lipid synthesis. Science 197:261–263
DeNiro MJ, Epstein S (1978) Influence of diet on distribution of carbon isotopes in animals. Geochim Cosmochinica Acta 42:495–506
Folch J, Lees M, Sloane Stanley GH (1957) A simple method for the isolation and purification of total lipids from animal tissues. J Biol Chem 497–509
Fry B (2006) Stable isotope ecology. Springer, New York, 308 pp
Fry B, Parker PL (1979) Animal diet in Texas seagrass meadows—Delta 13 C evidence for the importance of benthic plants. Estuar Coast Mar Sci 8:499–509
Fry B, Arnold C (1982) Rapid C-13/C-12 turnover during growth of brown shrimp (Penaeus aztecus). Oceologia 54:200–204
Fry B, Mumford PL, Robblee MB (1999) Stable isotope studies of pink shrimp (Farfantepenaeus duorarum Burkenroad) migrations on the southwestern Florida shelf. Bull Mar Sci 65:419–430
Guelinckx J, Maes J, Van Den Driessche P, Geysen B, Dehairs F, Ollevier F (2007) Changes in delta C-13 and delta N-15 in different tissues of juvenile sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus: a laboratory diet-switch experiment. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 341:205–215
Herzka SZ (2005) Assessing connectivity of estuarine fishes based on stable isotope ratio analysis. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 64:58–69
Herzka SZ, Holt GJ (2000) Changes in isotopic composition of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) larvae in response to dietary shifts: potential applications to settlement studies. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 57:137–147
Herzka SZ, Holt GJ, Holt SA (2001) Documenting the settlement history of individual fish larvae using stable isotope ratios: model development and validation. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 265:49–74
Hesslein RH, Hallard KA, Ramlal P (1993) Replacement of sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen in tissue of growing broad white-fish (Coregonus nasus) in response to a change in diet traced by δ 34 S, δ 13 C, δ 15Ν. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 50:2071–2076
Hobson KA (1999) Tracing origins and migrations of wildlife using stable isotopes: a review. Oceologia 120:314–326
Hobson KA, Clark RG (1992) Assessing avian diets using stable isotopes I: turnover of 13 C in tissues. Condor 94:181–188
Logan J, Haas HL, Deegan L, Gaines E (2006) Turnover rates of nitrogen stable isotopes in the salt march mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, following a laboratory diet switch. Oceologia 147:391–395
Logan JM, Lutcavage ME (2008) A comparison of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios of fish tissues following lipid extractions with non-polar and traditional chloroform/methanol solvent systems. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 22:1081–1086
MacAvoy SE, Macko SA, Garman GC (2001) Isotopic turnover in aquatic predators: quantifying the exploitation of migratory prey. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 58:923–932
McConnaughey T, McRoy CP (1979) Food-web structure and the fractionation of carbon isotopes in the Bering Sea. Mar Biol 53:257–262
Mullaney MD, Gale LD (1996) Ecomorphological relationships in ontogeny and diet in gag, Mycteroperca microlepis (Pisces:Serranidae). Copia 1:167–180
Murray MJ (2002) Fish surgery. Semin Avian Exot Pet Med 11:246–257
Parker SJ, McElderry HI, Rankin PS, Hannah RW (2006) Buoyancy regulation and barotrauma in two species of nearshore rockfish. Trans Am Fish Soc 135:1213–1223
Peterson BJ, Fry B (1987) Stable isotopes in ecosystems studies. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 18:293–320
Phillips DL, Eldridge PM (2006) Estimating the timing of diet shifts using stable isotopes. Oceologia 147:195–203
Post DM (2002) Using stable isotopes to estimate trophic position: models, methods, and assumptions. Ecology 83:703–718
Post DM (2003) Individual variation in the timing of ontogenetic niche shifts in largemouth bass. Ecology 84:1298–1310
Post DM, Layman CA, Arrington DA, Takimoto G, Quattrochi J, Montana CG (2007) Getting to the fat of the matter: models, methods, and assumptions for dealing with lipids in stable isotope analyses. Oecologia 152:179–189
Sheridan MA (1988) Lipid dynamics in fish: aspects of absorption, transportation, deposition, and mobilization. Comp Biochem Physiol 90:679–690
Suring E, Wing SR (2009) Isotopic turnover rate and fractionation in multiple tissues of red rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) and blue cod (Parapercis colias): consequences for ecological studies. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 370:56–63
Sweeting CJ, Polunin NVC, Jennings S (2006) Effects of chemical lipid extraction and arithmetic lipid correction on stable isotope ratios of fish tissues. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 20:595–601
Tieszen LL, Boutton TW, Tesdahl KG, Slade NA (1983) Fractionation and turnover of stable carbon isotopes in animal tissues: implications for delta 13 C analysis of diet. Oceologia 57:32–37
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Captain W. Sauls, Panama City, FL, for the use of the F/V Margie Anne for our research; to Captain D. Sauls and crew for assistance onboard in the field; to staff of the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory (FSUCML), particularly D. Tinsley, B. Henderson, M. Daniels, F. Lindamood, and FSUCML Academic Diving Program for assistance in many aspects of this study; to the Florida State High Magnetic Field Laboratory especially Y. Xu for her assistance with the mass spectrometry, to K. Kingon and N. Hyams (Florida State University) for their assistance in the laboratory; This work was funded through the Northern Gulf Institute, a NOAA Co-operative Institute, NOAA MARFIN NA07NMF4330120 (to Coleman and Koenig), and NOAA Cooperative Research Program NA04NMF4540213 (to Koenig and Coleman).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nelson, J., Chanton, J., Coleman, F. et al. Patterns of stable carbon isotope turnover in gag, Mycteroperca microlepis, an economically important marine piscivore determined with a non-lethal surgical biopsy procedure. Environ Biol Fish 90, 243–252 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9736-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9736-4