"Diet of Tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis, from Mississippi Coastal Wat" by James S. Franks, Katherine E. VanderKooy et al.

Home > GCR > Vol. 15 > Iss. 1 (2003)

Alternate Title

Diet of Tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis, from Mississippi Coastal Waters

James S. Franks, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Katherine E. VanderKooy, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Nikola M. Garber, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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.

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Last Page

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.18785/gcr.1501.05

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

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