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Feeding ecology of the cephalopod Octopus vulgaris illustrated by a stable-isotope approach
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Abstract(s)
Cephalopods play a key role in the marine environment, but studies of their
feeding ecology are still limited. Stomach content analysis have been the
main method used for studying the diet of cephalopods, but despite being
time-consuming, the prey is often difficult to determine. This technique
allows the determination of species eaten, using hard parts that tend to
resist digestion and remain in the stomach for longer period of time or hard
parts which resist digestion, such as crustacean exoskeletons, cephalopod
beaks, fish otoliths, and bones.
A stable isotope study was carried out seasonally to investigate the feeding
ecology of the cephalopod Octopus vulgaris, and its potential prey species
were identified according to the species that appeared in pots collected by
fisherman. The food items identified were the fan mussel (Atrina fragilis),
Algarve volute (Cymbium olla), Henslow's swimming crab (Polybius
henslowii), and the red-band fish (Cepola macrophthalma).
The stable isotope mixing model SIAR indicated that O. vulgaris is predating
mainly on the bivalve A. fragilis (mean value: 70%). P. henslowii could have
a contribution of 18% to the cephalopod diet, whereas the gastropod C. olla
and the fish C. macrophthalma were much less important to the consumer
diet (7 and 5%, respectively).
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Pedagogical Context
Citation
Seixas S, Baeta A, Marques J. 2020. Feeding ecology of the cephalopod Octopus vulgaris illustrated by a stable-isotope approach. Book of Abstracts of CephRes2020 Virtual Event. Biology and Life History of Cephalopods behavior, cognition, evolution, ecology, fisheries, genomics, neuroscience, taxonomy. P.66