A trophic ecology of two grenadier species (Macrouridae, Pisces) in deep waters of the Southwest Atlantic

The feeding habits of slope-dwelling macrourid fishes from the southern Southwest Atlantic is unknown. In this study the feeding ecology of the two most abundant species, Macrourus carinatus and M. holotrachys, was investigated. Both these grenadiers fed on a variety of prey, including gelatinous plankton, crustaceans, mesopelagic and benthic fish and cephalopods, echinoderms, as well as fishery discards. M. carinatus forage mostly in depths shallower than 900 m and its feeding spectrum and hunting strategy display important seasonal variability. It consumes more pelagic fish, squid and crustaceans than M. holotrachys, which probably indicates occasional feeding in the water column and higher availability of pelagic prey. M. holotrachys forages mostly in depths deeper than 1100 m and is a specialised bottom feeder. Macrourids are able to switch their feeding strategy from browsing on abundant food sources in summer and autumn (a narrow niche breadth and high number of prey per stomach) to hunting occasional prey in winter and spring (a wide niche breadth, low number of prey per stomach). Both species are of similar size and hard to distinguish morphologically, but in deep water M. holotrachys males are smaller than, and females larger than, those of M. carinatus. A probable reason for such energy re-distribution within a population in M. holotrachys is to achieve a higher reproductive output in a food-poor and harsh deep-sea environment.