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Diet Composition of Skates of the Barents Sea in 2004–2021

  • SHARKS, SKATES, AND CHIMAERAS (CHONDRICHTHYES)
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Abstract

The feeding spectrum of and the intensity of the diet consumption by Barents sea skates (Amblyraja radiata, A. hyperborea, Dipturus batis, Rajella fyllae, and Bathyraja spinicauda) have been studied in 2004–2021. The food spectrum of skates is characterized by great diversity; the most abundant are demersal fish species (Pisces) and crustaceans (Crustacea). Food objects and their size composition differ in different size groups of skates. Small-sized individuals consume small benthic invertebrate organisms; however their growth is associated with an increase in their diet of the proportion of large objects, various species of fish and crustaceans. The average annual grazing of commercial aquatic species by skates is at the level of 26.1 thousand tons; the main prey objects are the capelin Mallotus villosus and the northern prawn Pandalus borealis.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to all members of the scientific groups and crews of the research and scientific fishing vessels of the Polar branch of the Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO) and the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, who contributed to the collection of primary materials used in this study. We thank D.V. Prozorkevich (PINRO) for providing data on the biomass of skates and his assistance in writing the manuscript.

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  1. Polar Branch Russian Federal Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO), Murmansk, Russia

    A. N. Benzik & A. A. Chetyrkin

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  1. A. N. Benzik
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  2. A. A. Chetyrkin
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Correspondence to A. N. Benzik.

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Translated by T. Kuznetsova

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Benzik, A.N., Chetyrkin, A.A. Diet Composition of Skates of the Barents Sea in 2004–2021. J. Ichthyol. 62, 1343–1351 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0032945222070025

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