The Diets in Four Pacific Tube Blennies (Acanthemblemaria: Chaenopsidae): Lack of Ecological Divergence in Syntopic Species

Abstract. The diets of three syntopic Gulf of California Acanthemblemaria (A. balanorum, A. crock-eri and A. macrospilus) and A. castroi from the Galapagos Island are nearly uniformly composed of harpacticoid copepods and other small benthic-vagile or planktonic crustaceans. On occasion, large prey items such as crabs or other small fishes are taken. HORN'S index of niche overlap indicates that the three syntopic Acanthemblemaria are not separated along the food resource utilization axis. Slight variations in diets among the syntopic species seem to be related to differences in degree of microhabitat specialization.     

The Feeding Apparatus in four Pacific Tube Blennies (Te/eos fei: Chaenopsidae):

Abstract. Tube blennies ( Chaenopsidae ) have the largest relative mouth size compared with other blennioids. Their peculiar oral jaw apparatus may be interpreted as adaptation towards opportunistic feeding, making a wide spectrum of prey types and sizes accessible for these "hemisessile" fishes.
Three sympatric species of Gulf of California Acanthemblemaria show different, though overlapping habitat and microhabitat utilization, but are nearly identical in feeding. Accordingly, sizes and shapes of the oral jaw apparati are very similar in the species under consideration. Possible reasons for this apparent lack of ecomorphological divergence are discussed.