Abstract:
The trophic ecology (diets, stable isotope composition) and life cycle (gonado-somatic, GSI, and hepato-somatic, HSI, indices) of Aristaeomorpha foliacea were analysed seasonally (in May, June, and November 2012 and January 2013) off southeast Turkey (Levantine Basin), over the slope at 442-600 m depth. Aristaeomorpha foliacea females were mature in June, suggesting gonad maturity was somewhat delayed off southeast Turkey compared to other areas in the Eastern Mediterranean. The HSI of Aristaeomorpha foliacea was highest in May and June (8.2% of body weight) for males and both immature and mature females, sharply lower in November (3.5%) and then increasing again in winter (7.1%). Stomach fullness (F) showed a tendency similar to HSI in both females and males, increasing from May to June. Aristaeomorpha foliacea had rather low delta N-15 (6.68% to 8.26%) off southeast Turkey, with females having higher delta N-15 with increasing size. The delta C-13 signal (-14.85 to -14.68%) indicated that diet was mainly though not exclusively based on zooplankton (pelagic shrimps and small myctophids of 1.3-4.5 mm TL, cnidarians, hyperiids and pteropods). The increase of Aristaeomorpha foliacea remains in Aristaeomorpha foliacea guts and of some benthic prey (polychaetes, bivalves, gastropods) after the reproductive period would explain the moderate depletion of delta C-13 in spring-summer. The greatest changes in the diet occurred between periods of water mass stratification (June and November) and periods of water mass homogeneity (May and January), with greater consumption of zooplankton in the latter season. Aristaeomorpha foliacea seems to have lower reproductive capacity (GSI 5.6%) than other deep-water species of penaeidae living in shallower (Parapenaues longirostris) and deeper waters (Aristeus antennatus). The species has a more specialized zooplankton diet, exploiting short, more efficient trophic chains, which could be an advantage explaining its dominance in oligotrophic areas of the Central-Eastern Mediterranean, including the Turkish slope.
