Author(s)

Xiaolian Gu¹, Jianyi Liu^2,3, Sikai Wang^2,3, Tao Zhang^2,3, Feng Zhao^2,3*, Ping Zhuang^2,3*, Ming Duang^4*, Boyd Kynard⁵

¹Shanghai Natural History Museum, Shanghai Science & Technology Museum, Shanghai, China.
²East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai, China.
³Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Fisheries Resources and Environment of East China Sea and Yangtze Estuary, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai, China.
⁴Key Laboratory of Breeding Biotechnology and Sustainable Aquaculture, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
⁵BK-Riverfish, LLC and Environmental Conservation Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.

We conducted experiments in an artificial stream tank with wild juvenile Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis captured in the Yangtze Estuary to test the null hypothesis that their feeding efficiency on Barcheek goby Rhinogobius giurinus was not affected by sand vs. smooth glass substrate. Gobies are among the most common prey eaten by wild juvenile A. sinensis in the estuary. Test results found neither substrate type significantly affected feeding efficiency by juveniles. Previous research found a strong innate habitat preference of A. sinensis for sand substrate. The present results indicate that the preference for sand is not related to efficiently capturing R. giurinus on sand, but is an adaptation predisposing juvenile A. sinensis to seek sandy substrate where R. giurinus and other benthic forage are the most abundant in the Yangtze Estuary.

Acipenser sinensis, Feeding Efficiency, Sand Substrate, Behavior

Gu, X. , Liu, J. , Wang, S. , Zhang, T. , Zhao, F. , Zhuang, P. , Duang, M. and Kynard, B. (2023) Effect of Two Substrate Types on Feeding Efficiency by Juvenile Chinese Sturgeon Acipenser sinensis on Barcheek Goby Rhinogobius giurinus. Agricultural Sciences, 14, 1436-1443. doi: 10.4236/as.2023.1410094.