Feeding Habits of the Smallscale Fat Snook from East-Central Florida

Abstract

In general, snook Centropomus spp. are opportunistic carnivores, feeding on fish and crustaceans, as shown by other studies on diets of centropomids in the western Atlantic Ocean. Diet studies for centropomids in Florida refer only to a description of the diet and the ontogenetic shifts in prey preferences of Common Snook C. undecimalis. However, no food habit information for Smallscale Fat Snook C. parallelus is available in Florida. Stomach content analysis and quantitative descriptions of fish diet are important in understanding how species utilize resources, coexist in certain habitats, and possibly share available prey. The objective of this study was to describe the dietary composition for Smallscale Fat Snook in east-central Florida, in comparison to other diet studies for Smallscale Fat Snook and its congeners. The results show that, like other snook species, Smallscale Fat Snook is a carnivorous species, juveniles feed mainly on penaeid shrimp, and larger fish feed more on varied prey, mainly portunid crabs and teleost species. The diverse diet composition of Smallscale Fat Snook in east-central Florida suggests that the species is an opportunistic feeder, exploiting locally abundant prey, and feeds in a variety of estuarine and riverine habitats.

Received March 18, 2014; accepted April 17, 2014

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank the volunteer anglers and staff of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Fish and Wildlife Research Institute for their help. Ron Taylor, R. Paperno, D. Blewett, J. Shenker, J. Lin, R. Turingan, E. Irlandi, and two anonymous reviewers provided comments that improved the manuscript. This work was supported by a Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior Brazilian Ministry of Education doctoral fellowship, the Florida Institute of Technology, Professional Association of Diving Instructors Project AWARE (Aquatic World Awareness, Responsibility and Education), and the Link Foundation–Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce.