title: Trophic shift in young-of-the-year Mugilidae during salt-marsh colonization.
abstract: This study investigated the trophic shift of young-of-the-year (YOY) thinlip grey mullet Liza ramada and golden grey mullet Liza aurata during their recruitment in a salt marsh located on the European Atlantic Ocean coast. Stable-isotope signatures (δ(13) C and δ(15) N) of the fishes followed a pattern, having enrichments in (13) C and (15) N with increasing fork length (LF ): δ(13) C in fishes < 30 mm ranged from -19.5 to -15.0‰, whereas in fishes > 30 mm δ(13) C ranged from -15.8 to -12.7‰, closer to the level in salt-marsh food resources. Large differences between the δ(15) N values of mugilids and those of food sources (6·0‰ on average) showed that YOY are secondary consumers, similar to older individuals, when feeding in the salt marsh. YOY mugilids shift from browsing on pelagic prey to grazing on benthic resources from the salt marsh before reaching 30 mm LF. The results highlight the role of European salt marshes as nurseries for juvenile mugilids.
authors.affiliation: UMR Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266 CNRS-Université de La Rochelle, Bâtiment Marie Curie, Avenue Michel Crépeau, 17042, La Rochelle Cedex 1, France. benoit.lebreton@univ-lr.fr
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lebreton
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guillou
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Blanchard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005399:Fishes / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D020387:Food Chain; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes