Feeding ecology of three tonguefishes, genus Cynoglossus (Cynoglossidae) in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan

Abstract

Feeding ecology was compared among the three tonguefishes Cynoglossus abbreviatus, C. joyneri and C. robustus, collected from Seto Inland Sea, Japan, from June 2000 to May 2001. They are benthivores, consuming mainly gammarid amphipods, shrimps, crabs, gastropods, bivalves and ophiuroids. C. abbreviatus consumed greater proportions of ophiuroids whereas C. joyneri and C. robustus ate more amphipods and shrimps. While C. abbreviatus consumed mostly ophiuroids in all size classes, the diets of C. joyneri and C. robustus showed ontogenetic changes in feeding habits; smaller individuals of C. joyneri and C. robustus consumed gammarid amphipods, whereas larger C. joyneri ate shrimps and gastropods, and larger C. robustus fed mainly on gastropods, crabs, bivalves and polychaetes. Cluster analysis based on diet similarities emphasized that the three Cynoglossus species could be categorized on a size-related basis into three feeding groups: smaller C. joyneri and C. rubustus (<25 cm TL) could be classified as group A, and the larger of them (> 25 cm TL) as group B, whereas C. abbreviatus was categorized as group C. This means that some degree of resource partitioning can occur among the three Cynoglossus species. The seasonal changes in the diets were also significant for the three Cynoglossus species.