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Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Trophic ecology of sympatric juvenile stingrays within a nursery area

A. P. B. Martins https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3691-9644 A B E * , J. K. Matley https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4286-597X C , M. R. Heupel B , A. T. Fisk D , A. Chin A and C. A. Simpfendorfer A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, & College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.

B Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Qld 4810, Australia.

C Department of Aquatic Resources, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, B2G 2W5, Canada.

D Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4, Canada.

E Present address: Integrated Fisheries Laboratory, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada.

* Correspondence to: a.martins@dal.ca

Handling Editor: Bradley Wetherbee

Marine and Freshwater Research 73(5) 678-688 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF21292
Submitted: 6 October 2021  Accepted: 18 December 2021   Published: 23 February 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing.

Abstract

Nursery areas are crucial for many elasmobranch species, providing advantages such as increased access to prey and reduced predation risk. This study investigated the trophic interactions of two juvenile stingray species within a coastal communal nursery using stable isotope analysis. Muscle, plasma and red blood cells samples were taken from the mangrove whipray Urogymnus granulatus and the cowtail stingray Pastinachus ater, and δ15N, δ13C and δ34S measured. Urogymnus granulatus had higher mean δ13C, δ15N and δ34S than P. ater. General linear models showed no significant trends between δ13C, δ15N or δ34S and body size or sex. Low isotopic niche overlap, combined with previous data on movement patterns, provided evidence of niche partitioning between stingrays that likely reflect differences in feeding grounds and prey selection. Despite the differences in feeding grounds and prey selection, previous studies showed that U. granulatus and P. ater share sand and reef flat areas for most of the day (~20 h). δ13C and δ34S values suggested that mangrove-derived carbon had little importance to stingrays’ diets in the study area. Results presented in this study bring new insights to the feeding ecology of two sympatric stingray species and their trophic interactions within a communal nursery area.

Keywords: batoids, elasmobranchs, isotopic niche, niche overlap, Pastinachus ater, stable isotopes, stingrays, Urogymnus granulatus.


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