Reconstruction of original body size and estimation of allometric relationships for the longfin inshore squid (Loligo pealeii) and northern shortfin squid (Illex illecebrosus)
2009
Staudinger , Michelle D. | Juanes, Francis | Carlson, Suzanne
Quantification of predator-prey body size relationships is essential to understanding trophic dynamics in marineecosystems. Prey lengths recovered from predator stomachs help determine the sizes of prey most influential in supporting predator growth and to ascertain size-specific effects of natural mortality on prey populations (Bax, 1998; Claessen et al., 2002). Estimating prey size from stomach content analyses is often hindered because of the degradation of tissue and bone by digestion. Furthermore,reconstruction of original prey size from digested remains requires species-specific reference materials and techniques. A number of diagnostic guides for freshwater (Hansel et al., 1988) and marine (Watt et al., 1997;Granadeiro and Silva, 2000) prey species exist; however they are limited to specific geographic regions (Smaleet al., 1995; Gosztonyi et al., 2007). Predictive equations for reconstructing original prey size from diagnostic bones in marine fishes have been developed in several studies ofpiscivorous fishes of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (Scharf et al., 1998; Wood, 2005). Conversely, morphometricrelationships for cephalopods in this region are scarce despite their importance to a wide range of predators,such as finfish (Bowman et al., 2000 ; Staudinger, 2006), elasmobranchs (Kohler, 1987), and marine mammals (Gannon et al., 1997; Williams, 1999).
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