Home > GCR > Vol. 15 > Iss. 1 (2003)
Alternate Title
Diet of Tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis, from Mississippi Coastal Waters
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The diet of tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis, collected from the Mississippi Sound and Mississippi's offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico between April and September 1995-1997, was investigated through analysis of stomach contents. Of 178 tripletail stomachs examined, 136 (76%) contained prey items, and 42 (24%) were empty. Tripletail with prey in their stomachs ranged from 183 to 787 mm total length (mean 522.6 mm) and 0.14 to 10.5 kg total weight (mean 3.64 kg). The diet consisted of 32 different prey types and was comprised of shrimp, crabs, and teleost fishes which were represented by about equal number and volume of prey but differed in relative importance to the diet, with fishes having greater importance. Principal contributors to the diet were Farfantepenaeus aztecus, Callinectes sapidus, Brevoortia patronus, and Chloroscombrus chrysurus. The variety of prey in the diet suggested that tripletail fed opportunistically.
First Page
27
Last Page
32
DOI Link
Recommended Citation
Franks, J. S., K. E. VanderKooy and N. M. Garber.
2003.
Diet of Tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis, from Mississippi Coastal Waters.
Gulf and Caribbean Research
15
(1):
27-32.
Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/gcr/vol15/iss1/5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18785/gcr.1501.05
