Measurements and regressions of otoliths, cephalopod beaks, and other prey hard parts used to reconstruct California Current predator diet composition

Lowry, Mark S.; Curtis, K. Alexandra; Boerger, Christiana M.

doi:10.25923/07ew-8f35

i

Measurements and regressions of otoliths, cephalopod beaks, and other prey hard parts used to reconstruct California Current predator diet composition

Supporting Files

2020
By Lowry, Mark S. ; Curtis, K. Alexandra ; Boerger, Christiana M.
Series: NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SWFSC 637

Details

Personal Author:

Lowry, Mark S. ; Curtis, K. Alexandra ; Boerger, Christiana M.
Corporate Authors:

United States. National Marine Fisheries Service ; Southwest Fisheries Science Center (U.S.)
NOAA Program & Office:

NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) ; SWFSC (Southwest Fisheries Science Center)
Description:

Prey hard parts are used to reconstruct species composition and prey sizes from analyses of scats or stomachs of many marine predators. Measurements of prey hard parts are often closely related to prey size, allowing estimation of lengths and weights of prey consumed. In addition, otolith morphometrics, such as length, weight, and surface area, are related to otolith survival in predator digestive tracts and may thus help predict recovery rates in scats. Measurements were taken of prey hard part dimensions, additional morphometrics for otoliths, and/or prey size (length and weight) of reference specimens for 158 prey species found in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME), including 137 teleosts, twelve cephalopods, two batoids, one decapod, one myxinid, and one tunicate. Regression relationships of prey size to hard part measurements, among different prey hard part measurements (e.g., otolith length to width), and among different prey size measurements (e.g., weight to length) are provided for most species to facilitate application of these data to reconstruction of predator diets in the CCLME.
Keywords:

California Current Cephalopoda Food Otoliths Predatory Marine Animals Research California Current Predatory Marine Animals
Series:

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SWFSC 637
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25923/07ew-8f35
Document Type:

Technical Memorandum
Place as Subject:

California ; United States ; North Pacific Ocean
Rights Information:

Public Domain
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:432de62d3513f72304c097fab38d458da95a9ca07e49e72720258086de795e82
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/27914/noaa_27914_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 1010.37 KB ]

Available dataset

html

ON THIS PAGE

Details Supporting Files

The NOAA IR serves as an archival repository of NOAA-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by NOAA or funded partners. As a repository, the NOAA IR retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.