A Note on the Diet Synaphobranchus Kaupi (Pisces: Synaphobranchidae) from the Porcupine Seabight, North-East Atlantic

• Published in: Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
• Main Author: Marques, Afonso
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1998
• Subjects: Aquatic Science; Porcupine Seabight; Rockall Trough; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002531540004460x; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S002531540004460X

The diet of Synaphobranchus kaupi from the Porcupine Seabight is described. A sample of 110 eel stomachs containing food, were analysed and the general size–depth trend among eels with food in their stomachs. Larger individuals are found in deeper waters. Fish are the main prey for larger eels and crustaceans are preferred by smaller individuals. Synaphobranchus kaupi Johnson, 1862 is a slope dwelling eel, abundant in the north-east Atlantic Ocean from 230 to 2420 m deep on the continental slope (Haedrich & Merrett, 1988). It is the most abundant species on the slopes of the Porcupine Seabight, off south-west Ireland (Merrett et al, 1991; Priede et al., 1994) and was classified as a benthopelagic predator of the fourth level, predator of predators (Saldanha, 1991). The diet of S. kaupi has been described from the slope off the middle Atlantic coast of the USA (Sedberry & Musick, 1978), from the Portuguese slope and in the Bay of Biscay (Saldanha, 1991), from the west African slope (Merrett & Marshall, 1981; Merrett & Domanski, 1985) and from the Rockall Trough (Gordon & Mauchline, 1996). Our specimens were captured during a joint IOS/SAMS survey (Merret et al., 1991). From a total catch of 8792 S. kaupi , captured between 1979 and 1983 in the Porcupine Seabight, ranging from 470 to 2230 m deep, fish stomachs were removed aboard ship and 110 with food were kept in 5% formalin for further analysis.