FIGURE 14-3 - uploaded by Lara A Ferry
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A head-on view of a generalized suspension feeding fish with the gill arches evident. The approximate locations of the bones that compose the branchial arches that are visible in this view are indicated: the glossohyal, the basibranchial, and hypobranchial 1, ceratobranchial 1, and epibranchial 1 on arch 1. See also figure 14-5. Drawing modified after Sanderson and Wassersug (1990) and Sanderson and Cheer (1993), with permission of S. L. Sanderson.
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The composition of the present-day California marine fish fauna is largely a reflection of trophic interactions. This chapter first organizes the subject of food and feeding in fishes into three parts and variously draws examples from members of the California marine fish fauna. It discusses factors that determine diet including body shape and feed...
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Trophic interactions can result in changes to the abundance and distribution of habitat-forming species that dramatically reduce ecosystem functioning. In the coastal zone of the Aleutian Archipelago, overgrazing by herbivorous sea urchins that began in the 1990s resulted in widespread deforestation of the region’s kelp forests, which led to lower...
Citations
... The giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas, Polyprionidae), known to reach a maximum recorded total length of 250 cm and weight of 255 kg, is one of the only resident top predators in California kelp forest and rocky reef communities (Domeier 2001;Horn and Ferry-Graham 2006;Allen and Andrews 2012). The species inhabits nearshore rocky reefs and kelp forests from Humboldt Bay, California, south along the west coast of North America to the tip of Baja California Sur, Mexico, and into the Gulf of California (Peterson et al. 1999;Love 2011). ...
Giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas, Polyprionidae) are the largest reef-associated teleost in the northeastern Pacific, considered an important predator in Macrocystis kelp forest and rocky reef ecosystems. Because of the predictability of annual aggregations, giant sea bass (GSB) were fished throughout the twentieth century until they were nearly extirpated from southern California and Baja California, Mexico. To assess population recovery, acoustic telemetry was used to quantify spatiotemporal rhythmicity of GSB aggregations at Santa Catalina Island, California, USA. Thirty-two individuals were tracked for 498 days over two consecutive spawning seasons in 2017–2018 and visual surveys were conducted monthly to estimate aggregation sizes. Aggregation behavior was documented from June–October and spawning most likely occurred at a pinnacle promontory from July–September. GSB exhibited residency to specific sites throughout the year and individuals showed fidelity to suspected spawning aggregation sites during the summer months. Ten (31%) GSB were detected at Santa Catalina Island year-round and 11 (34%) exhibited suspected annual spawning site fidelity. Four individuals (12%) were documented leaving the island during late fall/winter 2017 and returning in spring/early summer 2018, indicating partial seasonal migration and year-round fidelity to specific sites at Santa Catalina Island. This study provides a baseline of spatiotemporal movements and behavioral patterns that can be used to improve our understanding of GSB and enhance management for these and other large-bodied predatory fish species.
... Giant Sea Bass are often found in kelp forests on rocky reefs as adults, while juveniles are found at sandy bottom areas (Domeier, 2001). These large, demersal teleosts reach lengths greater than 2 m, weights greater than 200 kg, ages of up to 76 years, and are apex predators (Horn and Ferry-Graham, 2006;Allen and Andrews, 2012;Hawk and Allen, 2014;Chabot et al., 2015;House et al., 2016;Allen, 2017). ...
This study provided a first detailed description of the acoustic calls and the possible sound production mechanism in the Giant Sea Bass (Stereolepis gigas). Passive acoustic (hydrophone) recordings of Giant Sea Bass sounds were made of three mature individuals (40-45 kg) held in a circular 17,000 l seawater tank isolated from other fish species. Four basic sounds plus combinations were identified from the tank recordings when fish were present and were encountered on numerous occasions throughout the study. We classified the basic sounds as two types of pulses (A and B), short bursts, and long bursts, and combinations of short and long bursts. Mean peak frequencies of the four sound types were less than 39 Hz, while mean durations ranged from 67 ms to 545 ms, depending on sound type. We also obtained and dissected two mature, adult Giant Sea Bass to describe the morphology of a putative sound production mechanism. Five putative sonic muscles were discovered between each of the first six pleural ribs of the male examined. These five massive muscles (¼obliquus superioris?) unite ribs 3 to 9 and were found at the level of the deep hypaxial musculature. The identification of these sounds and accompanying sonic mechanism marks the first occurrence of sound production in the family of wreckfishes (Polyprionidae). This knowledge of the acoustic characteristics increases our ability to document the presence, activity, and possibly the abundance of this critically endangered species at spawning sites.
... Giant Sea Bass are often found in kelp forests on rocky reefs as adults, while juveniles are found at sandy bottom areas (Domeier, 2001). These large, demersal teleosts reach lengths greater than 2 m, weights greater than 200 kg, and ages of up to 76 years (Horn and Ferry-Graham, 2006;Allen and Andrews, 2012;Hawk and Allen, 2014;House et al., 2016). ...
Aspects of the reproductive behavior of Giant Sea Bass, tereolepis gigas, were observed and monitored at Goat Harbor, Santa Catalina Island, California from June 2014 to August 2015. The site was visited daily during the summer months (the known spawning season); aggregations were not present during the rest of the year. Numbers of Giant Sea Bass observed at Goat Harbor ranged from 1 to 19 individuals with an average of 6. Giant Sea Bass produced booming sounds (40-80 Hz), which were often associated with aggressive behavior but may also be associated with courtship. Courtship behavior was observed during the late afternoons and was most prominent around dusk (1900-2100 h). Courtship involved sexually dimorphic, temporary color changes and displays such as circling in pairs and the nudging of the abdominal area of the presumed female by the snout of the presumed male. The courtship behaviors observed were similar to those observed for Giant Sea Bass in captivity. Although spawning was not observed directly, the available evidence suggests that spawning occurs just after dusk. Confirmation of spawning at or near the aggregation site was obtained through DNA barcoding with CO1 primers of eggs sampled from Goat Harbor near dusk. This study provides insights into courtship behavior that can be used to identify potential Giant Sea Bass spawning aggregations in the wild that are crucial for management of the species. © 2018 by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.
... Giant Sea Bass, in the Northeast Pacific, occur from about Humboldt Bay south to all the way down around Baja, and up into the northern Gulf of California. However, on the Pacific coast, Giants rarely occur north of Point Conception and function as apex predators of the kelp bed and nearshore rocky reefs off the Californias (Horn and Ferry, 2006)-an apex predator that has been missing from the kelp forest and deep rock reefs of California's nearshore ecosystem for almost a hundred years. ...
... They have been documented to feed on rays, guitarfish, skates, flatfish, small sharks, barred sand bass, kelp bass, blacksmith, ocean whitefish, sargo, sheephead, octopus, spiny lobster, cephalopods and squid (Domeier 2001, Love 2011. They are likely capable of feeding on nearly any species inhabiting nearshore rocky reefs and kelp forests off southern California, as they are the apex, tertiary megacarnivore of this system (Cross andAllen 1993, Horn andGraham 2006). Like many slow growing, late maturing, large bodied marine predators worldwide (Pauly et al. 1998, Jackson et al. 2001, Dayton et al. 2002, Myers and Worm 2003, the giant sea bass population has historically been depleted due to overfishing and has been rare off southern California (Domeier 2001, Pondella andAllen 2008). ...
Abstract.—It is rare to find evidence of top predators recovering after being negatively
affected by overfishing. However, recent findings suggest a nascent return of the critically
endangered giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas) to southern California. To provide the first
population assessment of giant sea bass, surveys were conducted during the 2014/2015
summers off Santa Catalina Island, CA. Eight sites were surveyed on both the windward
and leeward side of Santa Catalina Island every two weeks from June through August.
Of the eight sites, three aggregations were identified at Goat Harbor, The V’s, and
Little Harbor, CA. These three aggregation sites, the largest containing 24 individuals,
contained a mean stock biomass of 19.6 kg/1000 m2 over both summers. Over the course
of the both summers the giant sea bass population was primarily made up of 1.2 - 1.3 m
TL individuals with several small and newly mature fish observed in aggregations.
Comparison to historical data for the island suggests giant sea bass are recovering, but
have not reached pre-exploitation levels.
... Cyprindontiformes are a group of fishes characterized by species that are able to 'pick' individual prey items from the water column, surface or bottom (Weisberg, 1986;Taylor, 1992;Mansfield and Mcardle, 1998;Ferry-Graham et al., 2008). 'Picking' is defined as a subcategory of biting, where individual nutritive prey items are selected from among non-nutritive items (Motta, 1982(Motta, , 1985Horn and Ferry-Graham, 2006;Ferry-Graham et al., 2008). Effective picking requires oral jaws with fine control by synchronized movement of both upper and lower jaws; this concentrates the application of force toward the anterior end of the jaws . ...
A major challenge for aquatic vertebrates that invade land is feeding in the terrestrial realm. The capacity of the gape to become parallel with the ground has been shown to be a key factor to allow fishes to feed on prey lying on a terrestrial surface. To do so, two strategies have been identified that involve a nose-down tilting of the head: (1) by pivoting on the pectoral fins as observed in mudskippers, and (2) curling of the anterior part of the body supported by a long and flexible eel-like body as shown in eel-catfish. Although Anableps anableps successfully feeds on land, it does not possess an eel-like body or pectoral fins to support or lift the anterior part of the body. We identified the mechanism of terrestrial prey capture in A. anableps by studying kinematics and functional morphology of the cranial structures, using high-speed video and graphical 3D reconstructions from computed tomography scans. In contrast to the previously described mechanisms, A. anableps relies solely on upper and lower jaw movement for re-orientation of the gape towards the ground. The premaxilla is protruded anteroventrally, and the lower jaw is depressed to a right angle with the substrate. Both the lower and upper jaws are selectively positioned onto the prey. Anableps anableps thereby uses the jaw protrusion mechanism previously described for other cyprinodontiforms to allow a continued protrusion of the premaxilla even while closing the jaws. Several structural adaptations appear to allow more controlled movements and increased amplitude of anterior and ventral protrusion of the upper jaw compared with other cyprinodontiforms.
... Opportunistic piscivorous adult black and copper rockfishes focus their diets on these high trophic position prey items rather than invertebrate prey. Kelps support abundant invertebrate consumers as well as small carnivorous reef fishes and their predators (Horn and Ferry-Graham 2006). Fish are generally more energetically and nutritionally profitable than invertebrates as rockfish prey (Love and Ebeling 1978, Hobson et al. 2001, Love et al. 2002. ...
Sea otters are a classic example of a predator controlling ecosystem productivity through cascading effects on basal, habitat-forming kelp species. However, their indirect effects on other kelp-associated taxa like fishes are poorly understood. We examined the effects of sea otter (Enhydra lutris) reintroduction along the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada on giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) distributions and the trophic niches and growth of two common kelp forest fishes, black (Sebastes melanops) and copper (S. caurinus) rockfishes. We sampled 47 kelp forests, and found that red sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus) were eliminated in the presence of otters, and that kelp forests were 3.7 times deeper and 18.8 times larger. Despite order-of-magnitude differences in kelp forest size, adult black and copper rockfishes contained less kelp-derived carbon in their tissues (as measured by stable isotopes of C and N) in regions with otters. Adults of both species had higher mean trophic positions in the presence of otters, indicating more frequent consumption of higher trophic level prey such as fishes. Smaller trophic niche space of rockfishes in the presence of otters indicated a higher degree of trophic specialization. Juvenile black rockfishes rapidly shifted to higher kelp-carbon contents, trophic positions, and body condition factors after settling in kelp forests. The relationships of growth to length, percentage of kelp carbon, and trophic position varied between the two regions, indicating that potential effects of kelp forest size on trophic ontogeny may also affect individual performance. Our results provide evidence that the indirect effects of otters on rockfishes arise largely through the creation of habitat for fishes and other prey rather than a direct trophic connection through invertebrates or other consumers of kelp productivity.
... The functional morphology of this behavior, however, has not been systematically studied, and details of how prey capture occurs are lacking. The term 'picking' has also been used to describe a form of biting prey capture in some cichlids (Liem, 1979), and embiotodicids and labrids (Horn and Ferry-Graham, 2006), whereby small, sessile prey are dislodged from a substrate. Here, precise and repeated movements of the upper jaws allow protruding teeth to be used as a prehensile tool (Liem, 1979). ...
In fishes, cleaning is a mutualistic behavior wherein a species will remove and consume ectoparasites from other organisms. More than two thirds of cleaner fishes display this behavior predominately as juveniles and discontinue cleaning as adults; such species are here referred to as "facultative cleaners". Whether allometric changes in morphological traits coincide with ontogenetic shifts away from cleaning is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that transitions away from cleaning are associated with scaling patterns in the feeding apparatus of facultative cleaners, and then compared such patterns to those exhibited by non-cleaner congeners. We measured functional traits related to feeding, such as vertical gape distance, premaxillary protrusion distance, and maxillary kinematic transmission coefficient (KT) in each ontogenetic series of 11 Thalassoma wrasses (Labridae). As these fishes predominately capture prey via biting, we modeled bite force using MandibLever (v3.3) to create an ontogenetic trajectory of bite force for each species. Our results indicate that cleaner fishes in Thalassoma, as juveniles, possess jaws with low mobility that exhibit weaker bite forces. Additionally, there was remarkable consistency in the range of body lengths over which we observed significant differences between facultative cleaners and non-cleaners in bite force, vertical gape distance, and premaxillary protrusion distance. Through ontogeny, facultative cleaner fishes exhibit positive allometry for a number of functionally important feeding traits, which possibly obviates the need to continue cleaning.
... Fishes feed on a wide range of prey items that vary enormously in degree of mobility, habitat location and in size, structure and nutritional content (Horn & Ferry-Graham, 2006). Although they consume their food in a variety of ways, fishes nevertheless mostly use one or more of just three fundamental mechanisms to ingest their prey: biting, ram feeding or suction (Norton, 1995). ...
Jaw mechanics and dietary breadth in California grunion Leuresthes tenuis and Gulf grunion Leuresthes sardina were compared with three other members of the tribe Atherinopsini to test whether these two species have evolved a novel jaw protrusion that might be associated with feeding narrowly on abundant prey near spawning beaches. Quantitative comparison of cleared-and-stained specimens of five members of the atherinopsine clade showed that, compared with false grunion Colpichthys regis, topsmelt Atherinops affinis and jacksmelt Atherinopsis californiensis, L. tenuis and L. sardina have longer, more downwardly directed premaxillary protrusion, expanded dentary and premaxillary bones, greater lower jaw rotation and larger premaxilla–vomer separation. Leuresthes tenuis showed greater differences than L. sardina in these features. Comparison of the gut contents of L. tenuis and A. affinis with zooplankton samples collected simultaneously with these fishes in the water column within 1 km of shore showed that, as predicted, L. tenuis fed predominantly on mysid crustaceans and had a narrower diet than A. affinis. High-speed video analysis showed that L. tenuis exhibits a mean time to maximum jaw protrusion c. 2·5 times shorter than that of A. affinis. The grunion sister species, especially L. tenuis, have evolved suction feeding that may allow efficient feeding on common, evasive prey near spawning sites. The morphological traits seen in both species of Leuresthes signify a marked difference from their closest relatives in prey capture and suggest a type of jaw protrusion not yet seen in cyprinodontiforms or perciforms.
... For example, morphological differences in the components of the pectoral fins and the relationship with caudal fins determine differences in locomotion Collar & Wainwright, 2006) and adaptations to the life of fish at sites of varying wave exposure and current flow (see Floeter et al., 2007). On the other hand, morphological differences associated with mandible structures suggest different feeding strategies (Ferry-Graham et al., 2001;Horn & Ferry-Graham, 2006). The size of the jaw opening, diameter of eyes (Ferry-Graham et al., 2001;Goatley & Belwood, 2009) and surface of the pectoral fins Denny, 2005) are essential to the understanding of the functional biology associated with foraging behaviour of fish. ...
The trophic structure of organisms is an important aspect of the ecosystem as it describes how energy is transferred between different trophic levels. Here, we studied the diet and foraging ecology of 144 individuals belonging to five abundant fish species of subtidal habitats at Isla Robinson Crusoe. Sampling was conducted during the austral spring and summer of 2007 and 2008, respectively. The shallow subtidal habitat is mainly characterized by the abundance of two types of habitat: foliose algae and encrusting invertebrates. Diet and trophic characteristic of fishes were obtained by volumetric contribution
and frequency of occurrence of each prey item. Of the five species studied, one is herbivorous (juvenile Scorpis chilensis), four are omnivores (Nemadactylus gayi, Malapterus reticulatus, Pseudocaranx chilensis and Scorpis chilensis adult), and one carnivore (Hypoplectrodes semicinctum). The dietary diversity index was relatively low compared to other temperate reef systems, which could indicate a low availability of prey items for coastal fishes. The morphological parameters indicated that cranial structures and pairs of pectoral fins influence the foraging behavior. Differences in fin aspect ratio among species provided insight about fish depth distribution and feeding behavior. These results suggest important adaptive changes in the depth gradient of fishes in the subtidal environments of this island. According to our records, this is the first attempt to characterize the trophic ecology of the subtidal fish assemblages at Juan Ferna´ndez Archipelago, revealing the need for testing hypotheses related to selective traits that may enhance species coexistence in oceanic islands.
