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Feeding ecology of invasive lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, Cuba: insight into morphological features, diet and management

Cuba’s shelf has been invaded by lionfish (Pterois volitans/Pterois miles), which have become established over the archipelago, including areas of natural importance. The present study aims to evaluate morphometric features of lionfish and to explore the relationship between lionfish size and diet c...

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Autores principales: del Río, Laura, Navarro-Martínez, Zenaida María, Ruiz-Abierno, Alexei, Chevalier-Monteagudo, Pedro Pablo, Angulo-Valdes, Jorge A., Rodriguez-Viera, Leandro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9653055/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36389413
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14250
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author del Río, Laura
Navarro-Martínez, Zenaida María
Ruiz-Abierno, Alexei
Chevalier-Monteagudo, Pedro Pablo
Angulo-Valdes, Jorge A.
Rodriguez-Viera, Leandro
author_facet del Río, Laura
Navarro-Martínez, Zenaida María
Ruiz-Abierno, Alexei
Chevalier-Monteagudo, Pedro Pablo
Angulo-Valdes, Jorge A.
Rodriguez-Viera, Leandro
author_sort del Río, Laura
collection PubMed
description Cuba’s shelf has been invaded by lionfish (Pterois volitans/Pterois miles), which have become established over the archipelago, including areas of natural importance. The present study aims to evaluate morphometric features of lionfish and to explore the relationship between lionfish size and diet composition in different habitats in the Punta Frances National Park, Cuba. In total 620 lionfish were captured at 29 sites between 2013 and 2016. Lionfish stomachs were removed and their contents were analyzed using frequency and numerical methods. The length-weight allomentric relationship was obtained, and a decrease in lionfish sizes was shown over time, likely due to the extractions carried out. The diet was composed by fishes, crustaceans, mollusks and phytobenthos, with a predominance of fishes. Lionfish caught in seagrass beds tended to be smaller in size and consumed fewer fishes and more crustaceans than those captured in coral reefs. A positive correlation was observed between lionfish body size and gape size; however, no significant correlation was detected between lionfish body size and prey size. Larger lionfish tended to consume more fishes, while crustaceans were more significant in the diet of juvenile lionfish. This is the first study that examines the feeding habits of lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, and provides valuable information on lionfish inhabiting this MPA across four years of sampling. Furthermore, this research may serve as a baseline for subsequent evaluations of lionfish impact and management actions in the area.
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spelling pubmed-96530552022-11-15 Feeding ecology of invasive lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, Cuba: insight into morphological features, diet and management del Río, Laura Navarro-Martínez, Zenaida María Ruiz-Abierno, Alexei Chevalier-Monteagudo, Pedro Pablo Angulo-Valdes, Jorge A. Rodriguez-Viera, Leandro PeerJ Animal Behavior Cuba’s shelf has been invaded by lionfish (Pterois volitans/Pterois miles), which have become established over the archipelago, including areas of natural importance. The present study aims to evaluate morphometric features of lionfish and to explore the relationship between lionfish size and diet composition in different habitats in the Punta Frances National Park, Cuba. In total 620 lionfish were captured at 29 sites between 2013 and 2016. Lionfish stomachs were removed and their contents were analyzed using frequency and numerical methods. The length-weight allomentric relationship was obtained, and a decrease in lionfish sizes was shown over time, likely due to the extractions carried out. The diet was composed by fishes, crustaceans, mollusks and phytobenthos, with a predominance of fishes. Lionfish caught in seagrass beds tended to be smaller in size and consumed fewer fishes and more crustaceans than those captured in coral reefs. A positive correlation was observed between lionfish body size and gape size; however, no significant correlation was detected between lionfish body size and prey size. Larger lionfish tended to consume more fishes, while crustaceans were more significant in the diet of juvenile lionfish. This is the first study that examines the feeding habits of lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, and provides valuable information on lionfish inhabiting this MPA across four years of sampling. Furthermore, this research may serve as a baseline for subsequent evaluations of lionfish impact and management actions in the area. PeerJ Inc. 2022-11-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9653055/ /pubmed/36389413 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14250 Text en © 2022 del Río et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Animal Behavior
del Río, Laura
Navarro-Martínez, Zenaida María
Ruiz-Abierno, Alexei
Chevalier-Monteagudo, Pedro Pablo
Angulo-Valdes, Jorge A.
Rodriguez-Viera, Leandro
Feeding ecology of invasive lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, Cuba: insight into morphological features, diet and management
title Feeding ecology of invasive lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, Cuba: insight into morphological features, diet and management
title_full Feeding ecology of invasive lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, Cuba: insight into morphological features, diet and management
title_fullStr Feeding ecology of invasive lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, Cuba: insight into morphological features, diet and management
title_full_unstemmed Feeding ecology of invasive lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, Cuba: insight into morphological features, diet and management
title_short Feeding ecology of invasive lionfish in the Punta Frances MPA, Cuba: insight into morphological features, diet and management
title_sort feeding ecology of invasive lionfish in the punta frances mpa, cuba: insight into morphological features, diet and management
topic Animal Behavior
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9653055/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36389413
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14250
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