Article 9
Feeding ecology of De Buen’s goby, Buenia affinis, in the Kvarner area (Adriatic Sea)
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M. KOVAČIĆ1*, M. LA MESA2
1 Prirodoslovni muzej Rijeka, Lorenzov prolaz 1, HR-51000 Rijeka, Croatia
2 Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR-ISMAR), Sezione di Ancona, Largo Fiera della Pesca 1, 60125 Ancona, Italy
* Corresponding author:
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Abstract. – The feeding ecology of De Buen’s goby Buenia affinis was studied on a population collected in the north-eastern Adriatic Sea (Kvarner area). The sampling was carried out by SCUBA diving from May 2003 to April 2004. The stomach contents analysis revealed that this epibenthic gobiid is a carnivorous and generalist feeder. B. affinis fed mostly on organisms that live on the bottom or close to it, belonging to both meiofauna and macrofauna. Despite the small size of B. affinis, it relied on a wide size range of prey, from copepods and prodissoconch bivalve to fish, larger crustaceans and polychaetes. The diet composition of B. affinis was significantly different among seasons and between small-sized and large-sized individuals.
