Stomach content analysis of juvenile, scalloped hammerhead shark Sphyrna lewini captured off the coast of Mazatlán, Mexico

Yassir Edén Torres-Rojas, Agustín Hernández-Herrera, Felipe Galván-Magaña, Vanessa Guadalupe Alatorre-Ramírez

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

We quantified the diet of juvenile, scalloped hammerhead shark Sphyrna lewini in the area off Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, to understand their feeding ecology this shark. The prey species of Sphyrna lewini were identified and quantified from stomach content analysis. In addition, we determined the variations between genders. During two fishing seasons (2000-2001 and 2001-2002), we analyzed 232 stomachs, of which 85% contained food. The trophic spectrum was composed of three species of cephalopods, six of crustaceans and 19 species of fish from mainly pelagic and benthic habitats. According to the Index of Relative Importance (%IRI), the cephalopod Loliolopsis diomedeae with IRI = 18%, fish of the family Carangidae IRI = 25% and family Synodontidae IRI = 19% constituted the main prey in general. The trophic niche width was <0. 4, which indicated that S. lewini juveniles in this area feed on a wide range of prey items, though they showed a preference for a few prey items.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)301-308
Number of pages8
JournalAquatic Ecology
Volume44
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Elasmobranchs
  • Feeding habits
  • Gulf of California
  • Mexico
  • Specialist

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