Diet of two Antarctic dragonfish (Pisces: Bathydraconidae) from the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean

• Main Author: Evgeny A. Pakhomov
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1997
• Subjects: Key words; Antarctica; Bathydraconidae; Antarctic; Indian; Southern Ocean; Antarc*; Cosmonaut sea; Euphausia superba
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.622.4054; http://eprints.ru.ac.za/718/1/Antarctic-dragonfish.pdf

Bathydraconidae) was studied in the Cooperation and Cosmonaut seas in the depth range 200400 m during the summer 1988. Stomach content analysis showed that both species are piscivorous predators but with different feeding habits. Cygnodraco mawsoni fedmostly on young notothenioid fish, regularly complementing these with pelagic, Euphausia superba, and benthic crustaceans, such as amphipod gammarids and mysids. In contrast, G. acuticeps relied mostly on mesopelagic fish of the family Myctophidae. Although C. mawsoni and G. acuticeps occupy similar depths in the Cosmonaut Sea, different feeding habits appear to limit the probability of interspecific competition for food.