title: DNA barcoding identifies a cosmopolitan diet in the ocean sunfish.
abstract: The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is the world's heaviest bony fish reaching a body mass of up to 2.3 tonnes. However, the prey M. mola consumes to fuel this prodigious growth remains poorly known. Sunfish were thought to be obligate gelatinous plankton feeders, but recent studies suggest a more generalist diet. In this study, through molecular barcoding and for the first time, the diet of sunfish in the north-east Atlantic Ocean was characterised. Overall, DNA from the diet content of 57 individuals was successfully amplified, identifying 41 different prey items. Sunfish fed mainly on crustaceans and teleosts, with cnidarians comprising only 16% of the consumed prey. Although no adult fishes were sampled, we found evidence for an ontogenetic shift in the diet, with smaller individuals feeding mainly on small crustaceans and teleost fish, whereas the diet of larger fish included more cnidarian species. Our results confirm that smaller sunfish feed predominantly on benthic and on coastal pelagic species, whereas larger fish depend on pelagic prey. Therefore, sunfish is a generalist predator with a greater diversity of links in coastal food webs than previously realised. Its removal as fisheries' bycatch may have wider reaching ecological consequences, potentially disrupting coastal trophic interactions.
authors.affiliation: CIBIO - Universidade do Porto, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-668 Vairão, Portugal.|Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK.|Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK.
authors.forename: Lara L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.affiliation: CIBIO - Universidade do Porto, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-668 Vairão, Portugal.|School of Biological Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, UK.
authors.forename: Raquel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xavier
authors.affiliation: CIBIO - Universidade do Porto, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-668 Vairão, Portugal.|Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s/n, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Vânia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK.
authors.forename: Nicolas E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Humphries
authors.affiliation: Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK.
authors.forename: Clive
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trueman
authors.affiliation: MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Laboratório Marítimo da Guia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Nossa Senhora do Cabo, 939, 2750-374 Cascais, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth PL1 2PB, UK.|Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Waterfront Campus, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK.|Centre for Biological Sciences, Building 85, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Sims
authors.affiliation: CIBIO - Universidade do Porto, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-668 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Queiroz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D003063:Cnidaria / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D003445:Crustacea / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods*; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005399:Fishes / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D020387:Food Chain; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010933:Plankton / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D023721:Tetraodontiformes / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004247:DNA