AI Article Synopsis
- Researchers analyzed fatty acid (FA) profiles in the liver, plasma, and muscle tissues of five pelagic shark species to understand their feeding habits and ecological interactions in the tropical eastern Pacific.
- The study found significant variations in FA profiles among the different shark species, with blue and silky sharks exhibiting broader feeding habits, while pelagic thresher and smooth hammerhead sharks showed more specialization.
- The findings suggest strong resource competition between the smooth hammerhead and silky sharks, while the analysis highlights the importance of using multiple tissue types to gain accurate insights into the feeding ecology of these marine predators.
Article Abstract
Fatty acid (FA) analysis of consumer tissues has recently shown utility in drawing further inferences about trophic niche dynamics of marine predators such as sharks. In this study, we examined liver, plasma, and muscle FAs in five coexisting pelagic sharks (blue (Prionace glauca), silky (Carcharhinus falciformis), bigeye thresher (Alopias superciliosus), pelagic thresher (Alopias pelagicus), and smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena)) inhabiting the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. Results showed complex inter- and intra-individual and tissue variation among the five shark species. Based on multivariate analysis of the muscle FAs, P. glauca and C. falciformis have the largest FA niche widths, indicating diverse feeding habits or habitat isolation, whereas A. pelagicus and S. zygaena occupied a narrower niche width, reflecting increased trophic specialization. High percentages of muscle FA niche overlap indicated strong resource competition between S.zygaena and C. falciformis and a degree of dietary isolation by P. glauca. Interpretations of feeding ecology differed based on the analysis of plasma FAs, which could be attributed to higher dietary FA turnover rates. The liver was deemed unsuitable to examine FA niche metrics based on high and unexplained intra-specific variance in liver FAs as well as the unique lipid metabolism in chondrichthyans. Overall, our multi-tissue approach revealed the magnitude of potential competitive interactions among coexisting tropical shark species. It also expanded our understanding of inter-tissue variability and best practices when using FA analysis to estimate trophic niche metrics of sharks.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.113828 | DOI Listing |
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