Food and feeding habits of the seahorses Hippocampus spinosissimus and Hippocampus trimaculatus (Malaysia)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2015
Abstract
Two seahorse species, Hippocampus spinosissimus and Hippocampus trimaculatus, sampled in east and west coastal waters of Peninsular Malaysia, fed mostly on crustacean prey; small caridean shrimps and amphipods as adults (both species), and copepods and larval meroplankton as juveniles (for H. trimaculatus only). The similar short relative gut length (~0.4) of both species is consistent with a carnivorous diet. Both species are considered specialists in prey selection, focusing on slow-moving epibenthic, hyperbenthic and canopy-dwelling crustaceans that dwell on the mud-sand seabed, or are associated with seagrass or mangrove areas. In this light, seahorses with their juveniles in shallow waters are vulnerable to coastal reclamation and development.
Keywords
Crustacean prey, Diet overlap, Food habits, Ontogenetic shift, PCA, Preponderance index, Relative gut length, Stomach content, Syngnathidae
Divisions
InstituteofBiologicalSciences
Publication Title
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
Volume
95
Issue
05
Publisher
Cambridge University Press