Abstract
Nutritional status and feeding habits of immature female bighand thornyhead Sebastolobus macrochir were assessed based on Fulton’s condition factor K, hepatosomatic index (HSI), and stomach observations. Fish were obtained from bottom trawl samples taken seasonally during 2006/2007 in the Tohoku area, off the Pacific coast of northern Honshu, Japan. Results of the generalized linear model (GLM) indicated that fish condition deteriorated with depth, and small fish had a lower K, HSI, and percent stomach content index (SCI) than larger specimens. The empty stomach rate was higher in deeper waters in northern Tohoku (except for small fish from spring to autumn) and in southern Tohoku (spring/summer). Changes in the index of relative importance (%IRI) showed that the main prey items changed from nutritionally high to low prey items with depth. This suggests that deeper waters, where fish with the lowest condition values occur, are a poorer quality habitat for immature bighand thornyhead and that small fish are subordinate to larger fish. The effect on growth, due to variations in nutritional status and feeding habits, produced by the distributional changes in bighand thornyhead is also discussed.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the crew of T/V Tanshu Maru and R/V Wakataka Maru for help in collecting samples. We also thank Dr. T. Kubo of the Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, for his helpful advice on statistical analyses. This research was funded by the Fisheries Agency of Japan. The study is contribution number B114 from the Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research Agency, Japan.
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Hattori, T., Okuda, T., Narimatsu, Y. et al. Spatiotemporal variations in nutritional status and feeding habits of immature female bighand thornyhead Sebastolobus macrochir off the Pacific coast of northern Honshu, Japan. Fish Sci 75, 611–618 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-009-0080-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-009-0080-6