Diet and first documented data on plastic ingestion of Trachinotus ovatus L. 1758 (Pisces: Carangidae) from the Strait of Messina (central Mediterranean Sea)

Figures & data

Figure 1. Study area off the Sicilian coast of the Strait of Messina.

Table I. Diet composition of Trachinotus ovatus and percentage values of dietary indexes calculated for each prey item: abundance (%N); weight (%W); frequency of occurrence (%F); index of relative abundance (%IRI). Life stage of prey is also reported (A = adult; J = juvenile; L = various stages of larvae).

Phylum/subphylum/class/order	Family	Genus and species	Life stage	%N	%F	%W	%IRI
CNIDARIA
Hydrozoa
Anthoathecata	Porpitidae	Porpita porpita (Linnaeus, 1758)	A	2.02	1.37	1.89	0.23
Siphonophorae	Diphyidae	Diphyidae unid.	A	0.97	12.33	1.52	1.34
POLYCHAETA		Polychaeta unid.	A	0.14	2.74	0.09	0.03
CRUSTACEA
Malacostraca
Amphipoda	Lysianassidae	Lysianassidae unid.	A	0.07	1.37	0.01	< 0.01
	Phronimidae	Phronima sedentaria (Forskal, 1775)	A	0.07	1.37	0.01	< 0.01
	Phrosinidae	Anchylomera blossevillei Milne Edwards, 1830	A	2.92	9.59	0.96	1.62
		Phrosina sp.	A	0.07	1.37	< 0.01	< 0.01
		Primno macropa Guérin-Méneville, 1836	A	4.25	9.59	1.51	2.40
	Platyscelidae	Platyscelus ovoides (Risso, 1816)	A	0.14	1.37	1.23	0.08
		Hyperiidea unid.	A	0.07	1.37	0.23	0.02
	Caprellidae	Caprella equilibra Say, 1818	A	0.07	1.37	0.01	< 0.01
Decapoda	Luciferidae	Lucifer typus H. Milne Edwards, 1837	A	2.37	2.74	0.32	0.32
		Brachiura unid.	L	1.25	9.59	0.16	0.59
	Alpheidae	Athanas nitescens (Leach, 1813)	A	0.07	1.37	0.01	< 0.01
	Atelecyclidae	Atelecyclus sp.	L	0.07	1.37	< 0.01	< 0.01
	Porcellanidae	Porcellana sp.	L	0.77	1.37	0.10	0.05
	Albuneidae	Albunea sp.	L	0.21	2.74	0.06	0.03
	Paguridae	Paguridae unid.	L	5.78	15.07	0.54	4.15
		Decapoda unid	L	0.97	8.22	0.18	0.41
Euphausiacea	Euphausiidae	Euphausia krohnii (Brandt, 1851)	A	20.33	16.44	13.83	24.46
		Euphausia sp.	A	0.07	1.37	0.01	< 0.01
		Stylocheiron abbreviatum G.O. Sars, 1883	A	4.46	1.37	1.89	0.38
		Thysanopoda aequalis Hansen, 1905	A	0.56	1.37	0.10	0.04
		Euphausiidae unid.	A	1.67	6.85	0.30	0.59
Isopoda	Idoteidae	Idotea metallica Bosc, 1802	A	0.49	6.85	0.82	0.39
		Isopoda unid.	A	0.07	1.37	< 0.01	< 0.01
Stomatopoda	Squillidae	Squilla mantis (Linnaeus, 1758)	L	0.21	4.11	0.07	0.05
Maxillopoda
Calanoida	Acartiidae	Paracartia sp	A	0.07	1.37	0.01	< 0.01
	Calanidae	Calanidae unid.	A	0.35	2.74	< 0.01	0.04
	Centropagidae	Centropagidae unid.	A	0.07	1.37	< 0.01	< 0.01
	Euchaetidae	Euchaetidae unid.	A	0.14	1.37	< 0.01	0.01
	Metridinidae	Pleuromamma gracilis Claus, 1863	A	0.21	2.74	< 0.01	0.03
		Calanoida unid.	A	24.16	24.66	0.29	26.26
		Crustacea unid.	A	0.77	6.85	1.05	0.54
Ostracoda
Halocyprida	Halocyprididae	Ostracoda unid.	A	0.07	1.37	< 0.01	< 0.01
MOLLUSCA
Cephalopoda
Octopoda	Octopodidae	Eledone cirrhosa (Lamarck, 1798)	L	0.07	1.37	0.36	0.03
Oegopsida	Onycoteuthidae	Onychoteuthis banksii (Leach, 1817)	J	0.14	2.74	0.33	0.06
		Cephalopoda unid.	J	0.21	2.74	1.15	0.16
Gastropoda
Littorinimorpha	Atlantidae	Atlanta sp.	A	12.81	16.44	0.99	9.88
Thecosomata	Creseidae	Creseis clava (Rang, 1828)	A	0.14	1.37	< 0.01	0.01
		Creseis virgula Rang, 1828	A	2.16	4.11	0.01	0.39
	Creseidae	Styliola subula (Quoy and Gaimard, 1827)	A	0.28	2.74	< 0.01	0.03
	Peraclidae	Peracle reticulata (d’Orbigny, 1834)	A	0.07	1.37	< 0.01	< 0.01
		Gasteropoda unid	J	0.07	1.37	< 0.01	< 0.01
CHORDATA
Actinopterygii
Anguilliformes	Congridae	Ariosoma balearicum (Delaroche, 1809)	L	0.07	1.37	0.42	0.03
Aulopiformes	Synodontidae	Synodus saurus (Linnaeus, 1758)	L	0.07	1.37	0.09	0.01
Clupeiformes	Clupeidae	Sardinella aurita (Valenciennes, 1847)	A	0.49	8.22	33.70	12.24
	Engraulidae	Engraulis encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758)	J/A	0.97	5.48	11.90	3.07
Mugiliformes	Mugilidae	Mugilidae unid.	J	0.07	1.37	0.07	0.01
Myctophiformes	Myctophidae	Diaphus holti Tåning, 1918	A	0.07	1.37	0.21	0.02
		Electrona risso Cocco, 1829	A	0.07	1.37	0.25	0.02
		Hygophum benoiti (Cocco, 1838)	A	0.07	1.37	0.18	0.01
		Lampanyctus pusillus (Johnson, 1890)	A	0.07	1.37	0.04	0.01
Perciformes	Carangidae	Caranx crysos (Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 1809)	J	0.07	1.37	1.94	0.12
		Trachinotus ovatus (Linnaeus, 1758)	J	0.07	1.37	0.24	0.02
		Trachurus mediterraneus (Steindachner, 1868)	J	0.14	1.37	3.89	0.24
	Mullidae	Mullus sp.	J	0.07	1.37	2.94	0.18
	Scombridae	Scombridae unid.	L	0.42	2.74	1.72	0.26
Stomiiformes	Sternoptychidae	Argyropelecus hemygimnus Cocco, 1829	A	0.14	1.37	0.73	0.05
		fish larvae unid	L	3.13	6.85	4.34	2.23
		Pisces unid.	A	1.18	17.81	6.34	5.84
INSECTA		Insecta unid.	A	0.91	12.33	0.91	0.97

Figure 2. Costello graph (modified by Amundsen et al. 1996): relationship between frequency of occurrence (%F) of prey items and prey-specific abundance (Pi), expressed as A, number and B, weight, respectively, in the diet of Trachinotus ovatus, collected in the Strait of Sicily. The graph background shows the explanatory Costello diagram and its interpretation of feeding strategy (BPC = between-phenotype component; WPC = within-phenotype component).

Table II. Data on colour, shape and size of plastic debris in stomach content of Trachinotus ovatus specimens collected in the Strait of Messina. FL = fork length; TW = total weight.

Plastic debris				Specimens
Colour	Shapes	Length	Width	No. ind.	FL range	TW range
		range (mm)	range (mm)		(mm)	(g)
Hyaline	Irregular or flat	1.93–5.17	1.24–1.83	5	24.3–27.8	222.1–335.6
White	Round, irregular, triangular or flat	1.61–4.04	0.96–3.11	9	20.0–25.7	130.9–288.6
Yellowish	Round, irregular or flat	1.52–5.12	0.77–3.21	7	22.8–25.5	187.7–281.6
Pinkish	Irregular or flat	1.71–1.68	1.56–2.82	2	21.5–21.7	164.4–169.3
Blue	Flat, elongated or triangular	1.56–5.27	1.00–2.99	5	21.8–23.9	171.7–240.6

Figure 3. Examples of plastic debris found in the stomach of Trachinotus ovatus.

Amundsen PA, Gabler HM, Staldvik FJ. 1996. A new approach to graphical analysis of feeding strategy from stomach contents data-modification of the Costello (1990) method. Journal of Fish Biology 48:607–614.

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