Lionfish Diet Composition at Three Study Sites in the Aegean Sea: An Invasive Generalist?

The diet of the lionfish (Pterois miles), an invasive species in the Aegean Sea, was examined by collecting stomach content data from fish collected in three study sites in the Aegean Sea (southern Crete, Kastellorizo, and Nysiros islands). Prey composition in terms of numerical abundance and freque...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Fishes 2023-06, Vol.8 (6), p.314
Main Authors: Batjakas, Ioannis E., Evangelopoulos, Athanasios, Giannou, Maria, Pappou, Sofia, Papanikola, Eleftheria, Atsikvasi, Maria, Poursanidis, Dimitris, Gubili, Chrysoula
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Aquatic crustaceans
Biological research
Biology, Experimental
Composition
Diet
Endangered species
Fish
Food and nutrition
Food chains (Ecology)
Gobiidae
Interspecific relationships
Introduced species
Invasive fish
Invasive species
Invertebrates
lionfish
Lionfishes
Marine crustaceans
Marine fishes
Predation
Prey
Pterois
Pterois miles
Rare species
Scorpaenidae
Scyllaridae
Sexes
Stomach
Stomach content
Taxonomy
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Summary:The diet of the lionfish (Pterois miles), an invasive species in the Aegean Sea, was examined by collecting stomach content data from fish collected in three study sites in the Aegean Sea (southern Crete, Kastellorizo, and Nysiros islands). Prey composition in terms of numerical abundance and frequency of occurrence was used to compare lionfish’s diet between these sites. Lionfish largely preyed upon teleosts (4% to 83% numerical abundance and 16% to 58% frequency of occurrence, depending on the site) and decapods (12% to 95% numerical abundance and 11% to 81% frequency of occurrence). The most important teleost families in lionfish’s diet were Gobiidae, Labridae, and Scorpaenidae, while decapods and especially the family Scyllaridae and the genus Plesionika were the dominant decapod prey items. The lionfish was found to be an especially successful generalist across the study sites, an opportunistic, predatory species overall, and at the same time, at a local level, it seems to be an equally successful specialist that could increase the predation mortality of already stressed prey populations and can be a serious threat to endemic, critically endangered, and/or commercially important species.
ISSN:2410-3888
2410-3888
DOI:10.3390/fishes8060314