Food habits of Arctic staghorn sculpin (Gymnocanthus tricuspis) and shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius) in the northeastern Chukchi and western Beaufort Seas

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• 作者：Benjamin P. Gray ; ^{bpgray@alaska.edu} ; Brenda L. Norcross¹ ; ^{bnorcross@alaska.edu} ; Anne H. Beaudreau² ; ^{abeaudreau@alaska.edu} ; Arny L. Blanchard³ ; ^{alblanchard@alaska.edu} ; Andrew C. Seitz⁴ ; ^{acseitz@alaska.edu}
• 关键词：Chukchi Sea ; Beaufort Sea ; Arctic fishes ; Food habits ; Arctic staghorn sculpin ; Shorthorn sculpin ; Multivariate analysis ; Quantile regression
• 刊名：Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：135
• 期：Complete
• 页码：111-123
• 全文大小：2786 K
• 卷排序：135

文摘

Arctic staghorn sculpin (Gymnocanthus tricuspis) and shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius) belong to Cottidae, the second most abundant fish family in the western Arctic. Although considered important in food webs, little is known about their food habits throughout this region. To address this knowledge gap, we examined and compared the diets of 515 Arctic staghorn sculpin and 422 shorthorn sculpin using stomachs collected over three summers in the northeastern Chukchi Sea (2010–2012) and one summer in the western Beaufort Sea (2011). We used permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) and non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) to compare sculpin diets between regions and selected size classes. Differences in mouth morphologies and predator size versus prey size relationships were examined using regression techniques. Arctic staghorn sculpin and shorthorn sculpin diet compositions differed greatly throughout the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Regardless of body size, the smaller-mouthed Arctic staghorn sculpin consumed mostly benthic amphipods and polychaetes, whereas the larger-mouthed shorthorn sculpin shifted from a diet composed of benthic and pelagic macroinvertebrates as smaller individuals to shrimps and fish prey as larger individuals. Within shared habitats, the sculpins appear to partition prey, either by taxa or size, in a manner that suggests no substantial overlap occurs between species. This study increases knowledge of sculpin feeding ecology in the western Arctic and offers regional, quantitative diet information that could support current and future food web modeling efforts.