New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Feeding ecology of juvenile spiny lobster, Panulirus interruptus,
on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico
Verónica Castañeda-Fernández-de-Lara
Elisa Serviere-Zaragoza
Sergio Hernández-Vázquez
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste (CIBNOR)
Mar Bermejo No. 195
Col. Playa Palo de Santa Rita
Apdo. Postal 128
La Paz, B.C.S. 23090, México
email: shernan04@cibnor.mx
Mark J. Butler IV
Department of Biological Sciences
Old Dominion University
Norfolk
Virginia 23529-0266
United States
Abstract Many aspects of the early life history of the
red lobster Panulirus interruptus are little known, including the
relationship between habitat structure, food resource availability, and nutrition
of juveniles. We investigated the spatial and temporal differences in food
intake, diet composition, and nutritional condition of juveniles at two sites
along the Pacific coast of the Baja California Peninsula (Mexico) with contrasting
oceanographic and biological conditions. One site (Arvin) is located inside
a protected bay, Bahía Tortugas, where the waters are cooler and temperate
seagrasses and macroalgae are the dominant benthic flora. The second site
(Queen) in Bahía Sebastían Vizcaíno was located along
a more open coastline where seawater temperatures were higher and the benthic
flora more indicative of warmer seas. At both sites, we randomly sampled
epifauna within vegetated habitats to estimate the seasonal availability
of food resources for juvenile lobsters from autumn 2001 until summer 2002.
Concurrently, we used traps to sample P. interruptus juveniles for
stomach content analysis. At both sites, Amphipoda, Gastropoda, and Polychaeta
dominated the epifauna assemblages, as determined by an Index of Importance.
Juvenile P. interruptus primarily consumed crustaceans (mostly amphipods
and isopods) and vegetal material (surf-grass Phyllospadix spp. and calcareous
algae), but their food spectrum was wide. Manly’s Index of Resource Selection
indicated that lobsters preferred some prey (e.g., Brachyurans) over others
despite their low Index of Importance. Despite marked differences in the
types of food and their availability between sites, there were no significant
differences in the nutritional condition (e.g., relative weight of the digestive
gland) of lobsters at the two sites. However, the nutritional condition of
lobsters was effected during some seasons. In particular, their condition
deteriorated during the spring (April 2002) at Arvin, as did the proportion
of individuals with empty stomachs. This study shows the feeding adaptation
capacity of the juvenile California spiny lobster P. interruptus to
different environmental conditions prevalent in Centre Baja California Peninsula.
Keywords feeding ecology; spiny lobsters; Panulirus
interruptus; juveniles
M04036; Online publication date 31 May 2005 Received 9 February 2004;
accepted 22 November 2004
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2005, Vol. 39:
425-435
0028-8330/05/3902-0425 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005
PDF file of entire paper: Print-quality (211K) |
screen-quality (141K)
This year's abstracts |
Journal home page |
All abstracts |
Publishing home page
