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The Trophic Niche of Pleuragramma antarcticum in the Bransfield Strait, Antarctica: Quantitative Comparison with other Areas of the Southern Ocean
(1986) Moreno, Carlos; Rueda, Teresa; Asencio, Gladys
The stomach contents of Pleuragramma antarcticum Boulenger was studied in specimens collected in 14 of 27 IKMT stations, during the SIBEX-II expedition to the Bransfield Strait, Antarctica. The aims of the research was to know the trophic niche developed for this species during the ecological radiation of the Nototheniids. With the same objective we reviewed the previously published data of gut contents, and were compared using a quantitative approach in order to find the common elements in the diet of the silver-side in a wide variety of ecological conditions at the Antarctic pelagic ecosystem. We found in our study, that in the Bransfield area the predominant food item in the class 1 + was eggs of crustraceans and in the classes 2 + and 5 + was the copepod Metridia gerlachei. This species of copepod has been present in all the previously reported papers. In some opportunities together with krill, heteropods or other copepods, but undoubtedly it is the food item more constant in the diet of Pleuragramma antarcticum. With this information at hand we propose that the Antarctic silver-side has exploited an holopelagic niche using the more abundant and predictable resource namely copepods rather than krill as it has been proposed by other authors.
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