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Marine Ecology Progress Series

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MEPS 672:123-140 (2021)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13786

Estimates of sponge consumption rates on an Indo-Pacific reef

Charlotte Mortimer1, Matthew Dunn2, Abdul Haris3, Jamaluddin Jompa3, James Bell1,*

1School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012, New Zealand
2The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Wellington 6021, New Zealand
3Universitas Hasanuddin, Department of Marine Science, Makassar 90245, Indonesia
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: Determining predator diets is essential for understanding the strength of top-down processes and how they cascade through food webs. This is especially important for sponges, key members of benthic communities, whose dominance has increased in recent years on some coral reefs. However, the diversity of spongivorous fishes and the sponges they consume are relatively unknown. Here, we estimated sponge consumption by spongivorous fishes in the Wakatobi Marine National Park, Indonesia. We deployed cameras to identify fish biting at the dominant reef sponge Xestospongia spp. and then used gut content analysis and fish abundance estimates to quantify sponge consumption. In total, 33 species from 10 families of reef fish were identified taking bites from Xestospongia spp.; however, the 2 most prolific sponge-grazers, Ctenochaetus binotatus and Chaetodon kleinii, had no sponge in their guts, showing that for some fish, bites on sponge surfaces are not reliable evidence of sponge consumption. Gut contents indicated that Pygoplites diacanthus was an obligate spongivore, while Pomacanthus imperator, P. xanthometopon, Zanclus cornutus and Siganus punctatus regularly consumed sponges. Sponge consumption by these 5 spongivores was estimated at 46.6 ± 18.3 g sponge 1000 m-2 d-1. Molecular approaches developed to sequence the 18S gene for sponges consumed by angelfishes led to the successful amplification of 14 consumed sponges representing 6 orders of Porifera. We provide the first estimate of sponge consumption in the Indo-Pacific and are the first to successfully sequence partially digested sponges from fish stomachs, identifying several sponges previously unknown to be consumed by spongivores.


KEY WORDS: Spongivory · Angelfishes · Diet · DNA gut contents


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Cite this article as: Mortimer C, Dunn M, Haris A, Jompa J, Bell J (2021) Estimates of sponge consumption rates on an Indo-Pacific reef. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 672:123-140. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13786

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