Burukovsky R.N.1, Falkenhaug T.2 2015. Feeding of the pelagic shrimp Acanthephyra pelagica (Risso, 1816) (Crustacea: Decapoda: Oplophoridae) in the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge area in 1984 and 2004 // Arthropoda Selecta. Vol.24. No.3: 303–316 [in English].
1 Kaliningrad State Technical University, 1, Sovetsky prosp., 236022 Kaliningrad, Russia; corresponding author, E-mail: burukovsly@klgtu.ru
2 Institute of Marine research, Flodevigen, N-4817 His, Norway.
KEY WORDS. Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), feeding, frequency of prevalence, reconstructed aver fgedood (virtual) bolus.
ABSTRACT. Bathypelagic shrimps Acanthephyra pelagica (Risso, 1816) were mainly feeding on meso- and bathypelagic fishes of the families Myctophidae and Gonostomiidae in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) area in 2004 with Cyclothone spp. being a dominant food items. Euphausiids, especially Meganyctiphanes norvegica, and decapods of the families Pandalidae, Sergestidae and Benthesicymidae were also part of the diet. These main three groups occupied about 80% of the reconstructed (virtual) food bolus and serve as the principal food of A. pelagica. Other prey groups found in the stomachs were sporadic, occasional or transit. This food composition is similar to results obtained in previous studies in 1984. The differences of shrimp diet in 1984 and 2004 were due to the frequency of occurrence and the proportion of euphausiids, shrimps and other malacostracans in the volume of the virtual food bolus. Euphausiids were often found in the diet of A. pelagica at depths less than 1000 m in the northern part of MAR area, occupied by Sub-Arctic Intermediate Waters (SAIW). South of the Sub-Polar Front (SPF), in the North Atlantic Central Water, euphausiids were substituted by decapods, and at depths below 1000 m — by decapods, amphipods and mysids.