Beetles in diets of deep sea fishes - similar articles

[Infusoria]

I just couldn't work out how to post a new thread. The website isn't that obvious when it comes to posting new threads.

I'm writing/have written, a paper about the occurrence of beetles in the diets of deep-sea fishes (we're talking New Zealand waters here). Anonymous reviewers have asked me to come up with examples of similar literature elsewhere, and I've drawn a blank. Can anybody help me? I'll put you in the acknowledgments if you can.

Again, apologies for putting this here.

Matt

 

[monty]

I just couldn't work out how to post a new thread. The website isn't that obvious when it comes to posting new threads.

I'm writing/have written, a paper about the occurrence of beetles in the diets of deep-sea fishes (we're talking New Zealand waters here). Anonymous reviewers have asked me to come up with examples of similar literature elsewhere, and I've drawn a blank. Can anybody help me? I'll put you in the acknowledgments if you can.

Again, apologies for putting this here.

Matt

I have no idea about the substance of the question... but the way I start new threads is to click on the forums button at the top, and navigate down into the forum/subforum I want, and then there's a "new thread" button, I think at the top, but maybe the bottom of the list of thread topics.

Of course, it's not entirely clear what forum is appropriate, maybe physiology and biology. Aren't beetles sort of rare in the environments deep sea fishes like to hang out in?

 

[Jean]

Well I haven't come across beetles in deep sea fish, but maybe you could pick up papers on other animals with weird diets.

Eg X. Cerdá, J. Retana, S. Carpintero and S. Cros (1996) An unusual ant diet:Cataglyphis floricola feeding on petals. Insectes Sociaux Volume 43, Number 1, 101-104

Thomas Eisner, and Daniel J. Aneshansley (2000)Chemical defense: Aquatic beetle (Dineutes hornii) vs. fish (Micropterus salmoides). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,Published online on October 3, 2000, 10.1073/pnas.190335397

Feathers as Indicator of a Bat's Diet: A Reply to Bontadina & Arlettaz, by C. Ibáñez; J. Juste; J. L. García-Mudarra; P. T. Agirre-Mendi
Functional Ecology © 2003

also in my thesis I found that the Southern Arrow squid Nototodarus sloanii ate sygnathids (pipefish/seahorse)

Mckinnon, J. F (2006) Aspects of the Population Biology of the Southern Arrow Squid, Nototodarus sloanii, in Southern New Zealand waters: Chapter three; Diet Analysis. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Otago. Dunedin, NZ. p 50-101.

Hope these are of some help

J

 

[Nancy]

Note: I moved theses posts over to Physiology and Biology and created a new thread - hope this is a better place for the topic.

Nancy

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Matt, how many pseudonyms have you got on this site? I wondered what happened to you!!

Thanks Nancy; I'll just trundle down the corridor and beat Matt up now. Matt, be very

 

[Infusoria]

"Aren't beetles sort of rare in the environments deep sea fishes like to hang out in?"

That's why I wrote a paper about it. Thanks to everyone for their helpful comments. I've been looking in the literature and I can't find anything on beetles. You'd think that they would turn up in the diets of shallow water fish before deep-water ones. Maybe I'll have look in the diet of Snapper?

Matt

 

[Infusoria]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to answer what Steve said about me allegedly having multiple pseudonyms on this website; I don't. A while back my login failed and I found that I couldn't get my password to work; I don't remember the exact details, but I was effectively locked out. I emailed Tony, explained what had happened, and he kindly organised a new login and password for me. I've not been posting as I've been busy with this whole Ph.D thing. So Infusoria didn't suddenly have 470ish posts, they're mostly MattJones ones.

Also, I am looking at the diet of snapper in NZ and getting nothing terrestrial... I met a bloke at the Census of Marine Life Conference in Auckland last year; he told me that he had heard that locusts had been found on the diets of some deep-sea fishes collected of the coast of Africa. I didn't get his name, it was just one of those 'walking between talks' conversations. I'm not going to make that mistake again!

 

[monty]

"Aren't beetles sort of rare in the environments deep sea fishes like to hang out in?"

That's why I wrote a paper about it. Thanks to everyone for their helpful comments. I've been looking in the literature and I can't find anything on beetles. You'd think that they would turn up in the diets of shallow water fish before deep-water ones. Maybe I'll have look in the diet of Snapper?

Matt

Maybe we shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss that "fossil squids on mars" guy...

So dead beetles fall as part of "marine snow" detritus, I imagine?

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Steve says sorry ....

 

[DWhatley]

Matt, if it gets too confusing, just add a by-line like Thales' and dreadhead (I don't know if anyone actually remembers "Righty" exclusive of staff though)

 

[Heather Braid]

I don't know if this will help you, but I found an article about the diet of garfish and in it they mention that they found beetles in the stomach contents.

"Diet of the garfish, Belone belone (L.), from Courtmacsherry Bay, Ireland" by J.A. Dorman 1988

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/ac...42+KB)&doi=10.1111/j.1095-8649.1988.tb05476.x

 

[bigGdelta]

Seems to me that beetles would be a rare food item for deepwater fish. The pelagic waterstriders might be a different matter since they can range hundreds of miles from shore.

 

[Infusoria]

I don't know if this will help you, but I found an article about the diet of garfish and in it they mention that they found beetles in the stomach contents.

"Diet of the garfish, Belone belone (L.), from Courtmacsherry Bay, Ireland" by J.A. Dorman 1988

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/ac...42+KB)&doi=10.1111/j.1095-8649.1988.tb05476.x

Thanks Heather,

That's just the sort of thing I was looking for. I've been looking for ages, and found nothing; and of course the first thing reviewers asked was were there any other papers out there describing this phenomenon.

Hi bigGdelta

"Seems to me that beetles would be a rare food item for deepwater fish. The pelagic waterstriders might be a different matter since they can range hundreds of miles from shore."

Interesting, yes they were very rare, 6 beetles out of 644 fish specimens and 32 species.

cheers

 

[DWhatley]

It would seem that beetles would almost have to be from the stomachs of other prey that rise to shallow water to night feed. I saw lots of references to bug/beetles and trout and several other surface eating freshwater fish but nothing on saltwater stomach contents. Were there other identifiable similarities in the stomachs of the fish with the beetles?

 

[Infusoria]

It would seem that beetles would almost have to be from the stomachs of other prey that rise to shallow water to night feed. I saw lots of references to bug/beetles and trout and several other surface eating freshwater fish but nothing on saltwater stomach contents. Were there other identifiable similarities in the stomachs of the fish with the beetles?

Yes, and here's the weird part, 5 out of the six fishes were bottom feeders.