Volume 58
Aspects of the Food Habits of Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus (P 1860) from the Campeche Bank, Yucatan, Mexico
Authors
Pérez-Díaz, E., T. Colás-Marrufo, J.C. Sámano-Zapata, T. Brulé Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2005
Pages: 159-166
Event: Proceedings of the Fifty Eighth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: San Andres
Country: Colombia
Abstract
Diet of L. campechanus from the southern Gulf of Mexico was characterized through stomach contents analysis of 764 specimens (total length: TL = 24.2 - 85.9 cm) caught by Mexican commercial fleet, between March 1999 and April 2000. Main food categories identified in stomach contents of this snapper were fishes and reptant decapods (preferential or secondary prey), and stomatopod, unidentified crustaceans and natant decapods (minor prey). No significant change was detected in red snapper diet composition between seasons. Fishes were in weight the most important prey in diet of larger individuals (size classes: 44.1 - 64.0 cm TL and 64.1 - 86.0 cm TL) whilst reptant decapods predominated in food of smaller specimens (24.1 - 44.0 cm TL). Results of the present study are compared with those of other authors for red snapper from different regions of the Gulf of Mexico.