Keywords
feeding ecology
nursery
Gulf of Venice
How to Cite
Abstract
This study provides baseline information on the feeding habits of the bull ray, Aetomylaeus bovinus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817), in the Gulf of Venezia. Among 1557 prey items isolated from the stomachs of bull ray specimens, gastropods represented the overwhelming majority (93.8%). Within gastropods, Aporrhais
pespelecani was the dominant species, followed by Gibbula magus and Bolinus brandaris – all characteristic elements of the biocoenosis of the muddy detritic bottom. We observed differences in prey structure between juveniles and adults, as well as sexes. Among fishes that proved to be particularly important in terms of biomass, the majority of prey items consisted of small pelagic fish, including pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) and horse mackerel (Trachurus sp.). This paper contributes new data on the feeding ecology of a lesser known and critically endangered batoid species.
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