Size-based Prey Selectivity and Dietary Shifts in the Jellyfish, Aurelia aurita |
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| Authors: | Graham William M; Kroutil Ryan M |
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| Institution: | Dauphin Island Sea Lab and Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama, 101 Bienville BLVD, Dauphin Island, Alabama 36528, USA and
2 Oklahoma City University, Department of Biology, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73106, USA |
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| Abstract: | Gut content analyses on field-caught Aurelia aurita showed bothquantitative and qualitative change in diet as a function ofmedusa size. Larger medusae tended towards greater numbersand diversity of prey (up to 1550 individual prey representingas many as 13 different prey groups). We also found that medusasize was a good predictor of prey diversity recovered from themedusa gut. While a shift toward greater prey diversity inlarger medusae might be explained by increased contact rateswith 'rare' prey taxa, we also found size-based prey selectivitychanges in A. aurita. We used in situ gut content data to describeselectivity by A. aurita for three prey types representing varyingdegrees of swimming or escape velocity. Fish eggs were usedas a non-swiming prey, and small ( |
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