Changes in the diet composition of transitory fishes in coastal systems, estuary and continental shelf

Abstract

The feeding habits of five species of teleosis in the southern coast of Brazil were analyzed comparatively between estuary and continental shelf. The displacement between the two sites caused expressive qualitative alterations, the proportion of different items varying from 50% in the diet of Micropogonias furnieri to 89% in Isopisthus parvipinnis. In the group of species. 57% of the items were exclusive to one of the environments and, within the three most common items in the estuary - fish. Polychaeta and plants, only the former was also among the most common items in the shelf. In spite of these differences, the high spectrum of items in both environments and the nature of the item that was most consumed in each one, indicate that there was a certain similarity of patterns between extuaiy and shelf: Chloroscombrus chrysurus had a carnivorous diet, with a predominance of copepods; M. furnieri and Menticirrhus americanus showed a tendency towards an omnivorous diet; and Cynoscion leiarchus and I. parvipinnis showed a tendency towards ichthyophagy.