| Abstrakt: |
The present study represents the feeding habits of the native (Mullus barbatus barbatus Linnaeus, 1758, Mullus surmuletus Linnaeus, 1758 and Pagellus erythrinus (Linnaeus, 1758)) and non-native (Nemipterus randalli Russell, 1986, Upeneus moluccensis (Bleeker, 1855) and Upeneus pori Ben-Tuvia & Golani, 1989) fish species collected off the Turkish Aegean coast throughout the seasonally between January to December 2017. It was determined that all species consume benthic organisms by examining a total of 672 stomach contents. The index of relative importance (IRI) revealed the most important food item according to species is: Crustacea for N. randalli (82.40%), P. erythrinus (44.15%), M. surmuletus (75.35%), U. moluccensis (98.48%) and U. pori (56.79%; Polychaeta for M. barbatus barbatus (56.84%). A total of 40 prey species were identified from stomach contents of native and non-native fishes via the molecular method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
