A real-time PCR assay to detect predation by spiny dogfish on Atlantic cod in the western North Atlantic Ocean. ...

Conventional observations show spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthius Linnaeus) rarely eat Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua Linnaeus; 0.02% of stomachs) in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. Critics express concern that digestion may limit species-level prey identification, and with recovery from overfishing, dog...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pitchford, Steven, Smith, Brian E., McBride, Richard
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: Dryad 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8w9ghx3jv
https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.8w9ghx3jv
Description
Summary:Conventional observations show spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthius Linnaeus) rarely eat Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua Linnaeus; 0.02% of stomachs) in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. Critics express concern that digestion may limit species-level prey identification, and with recovery from overfishing, dogfish populations may be suppressing cod by competition or predation. This study applied a real-time PCR TaqMan assay to identify cod in dogfish stomachs collected by cooperating fishing boats during normal trawling operations (May 2014 – May 2015; Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank). Conventional methods observed 51 different prey taxa and nearly 1600 individual prey items, but no cod were observed. Cod DNA was detected in 31 (10.5%) of the dogfish stomachs, with a higher percentage of these from the homogenate of amorphous, well-digested prey and stomach fluids (20 stomachs or 65%) than from discrete animal tissues (11 stomachs or 35%). Re-examination of photographs of these 11 tissue samples revealed one whole, ... : Please see Materials and Methods within the article for a description of how these data were collected and processed. ...