ÉTUDE DU RÉGIME ALIMENTAIRE DE L’ANCHOIS EUROPÉEN (ENGRAULIS ENCRASICOLUS) EN ATLANTIQUE NORD-EST ET EN MÉDITERRANÉE

Abstract

Jemaa Sharif, Perrine Cuvilliers, Mahmoud Bacha, Gaby Khalaf et Rachid Amara. A study on the diet variation of European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) in the Atlantique and Mediterranean water. 2016. Lebanese Science Journal, 17(1): 77-92. This study evaluated diet variation of European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus in productive and oligotrophic areas. The diet of the European anchovy was studied at 13 different sites along its geographic distribution range. In all sites, the diet was mainly based on copepods that represented 33 to 98% of the prey identified and were found in over 80% of the stomachs analyzed. The dominant copepod species and the various secondary preys such as ostracods, gastropods, and eggs varied among locations. Multivariate analyses (AFC, CAH, nMDS) distinguished three groups according to sites: group 1 in the Northwestern Mediterranean, Atlantic, Channel/North Sea; group 2 in the Algero-Provençal Basin (Ghazaouet, Bénisaf and Bejaia); and group 3 in the Eastern Mediterranean (Lebanon and Turkey). The differences among groups were based on the presence of specific prey types, such as, zooplankton, cyprid larvae, barnacles in the first group, bivalves and amphipods in the second group, and ostracods, mysids, and euphausiids in the third group. These groupings reflected the dissimilarities of hydrographic characteristics and biological productivity between regions. Examination of the stomach contents highlights the significant presence of plastic (13-16% of the content in some sites), where the vast majority came from fishing gear filaments.

Keywords

• Engraulis encrasicolus
• diet
• Mediterranean sea
• Atlantic