What is it about?

The diet of juveniles of stone flounder was investigated. The main food changed from small food such as zooplankton to larger food such as clam siphons. This change was associated with body size, and this pattern is common in many other species. However, the change was also observed between months, even within the same body sizes. Thus, the diet change would occur not only with growth but with seasons.

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Why is it important?

It is unique that main food items change with seasons, even for the same body sizes. Two possible mechanisms are raised in this paper. One is seasonal changes in the food availability. The other is seasonal differences in morphological development of juveniles. Juveniles collected in later seasons were well developed compared to those collected in earliear seasons.

Perspectives

It is expected to demonstrate that morphological development of juveniles actually relate to food selection. For example, it is worth testing whether juveniles in earlier seasons do not have morphological ability to bite off clam siphons.

Dr Takeshi Tomiyama
Hiroshima University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Seasonal and ontogenetic diet shift in juvenile stone flounder Platichthys bicoloratus, Journal of Fish Biology, September 2012, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8649.2012.03408.x.
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