Molecular approach indicates consumption of jellyfish by commercially important fish species in a coastal Mediterranean lagoon

Until recently, jellyfish have been ignored as an important source of food, due to their low nutritional value. Here, quantitative PCR was used to detect and quantify the DNA of the jellyfish Aurelia coerulea in the gut contents of commercially important fish species from the Thau Lagoon. Individual...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine environmental research 2019-12, Vol.152, p.104787-104787, Article 104787
Main Authors: Marques, Raquel, Darnaude, Audrey M., Crochemore, Sandrine, Bouvier, Corinne, Bonnet, Delphine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal biology
Animals
Aurelia coerulea
Benthos
Biodiversity and Ecology
Blooms
Catadromous fishes
Cnidaria
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Diet
DNA
Eel
Environmental Sciences
Fish
Fisheries
Food
Food Chain
Food sources
Foods
Gut content
Invertebrate Zoology
Lagoons
Life Sciences
Marine fishes
Marine invertebrates
Medusae
Nucleotide sequence
PCR
Polyps
Polyps (organisms)
Predation
Quantitative PCR
Scyphozoa - genetics
Sea Bream
Seabream
Seafood
Species
Thau lagoon
Vertebrate Zoology
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Summary:Until recently, jellyfish have been ignored as an important source of food, due to their low nutritional value. Here, quantitative PCR was used to detect and quantify the DNA of the jellyfish Aurelia coerulea in the gut contents of commercially important fish species from the Thau Lagoon. Individuals from five fish species were collected during two different periods: the bloom period, when the pelagic stages of A. coerulea are abundant, and the post-bloom period, when only the benthic stage – polyps – is present in the lagoon. The DNA of A. coerulea was detected in the guts of 41.9% of the fish analysed, belonging to four different species. The eel Anguilla anguilla and the seabream Sparus aurata were important jellyfish consumers during the bloom and post-bloom periods, respectively. These results provide new insights on the potential control of jellyfish populations and on jellyfish importance as a food source for exploited fishes. •DNA of the jellyfish Aurelia coerulea was detected by qPCR in the guts of four commercially important fish species.•All the individuals of European eel analysed had jellyfish DNA in their guts.•Gilthead Sea bream likely indirectly consumed jellyfish polyps, by preying on their settling substrates (bivalves).•Jellyfish might be a non-negligible important food source for commercially exploited fish species.
ISSN:0141-1136
1879-0291
DOI:10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.104787