18S rRNA gene sequences of leptocephalus gut contents, particulate organic matter, and biological oceanographic conditions in the western North Pacific.

ABSTRACT: Eel larvae apparently feed on marine snow, but many aspects of their feeding ecology remain unknown. The eukaryotic 18S rRNA gene sequence compositions in the gut contents of four taxa of anguilliform eel larvae were compared with the sequence compositions of vertically sampled seawater particulate organic matter (POM) in the oligotrophic western North Pacific Ocean. Both gut contents and POM were mainly composed of dinoflagellates as well as other phytoplankton (cryptophytes and diatoms) and zooplankton (ciliophoran and copepod) sequences. Gut contents also contained cryptophyte and ciliophoran genera and a few other taxa. Dinoflagellates (family Gymnodiniaceae) may be an important food source and these phytoplankton were predominant in gut contents and POM as evidenced by DNA analysis an

SUBMITTER: Watanabe T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7930194 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature