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Feeding the Future: Diet Data and Ecosystem Perspectives on Fish...
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Feeding the Future: Diet Data and Ecosystem Perspectives on Fish Food Webs

A special issue of Fishes (ISSN 2410-3888). This special issue belongs to the section "Biology and Ecology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2026 | Viewed by 1188

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Letterio Guglielmo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Ecosustainable Marine Biotechnology Department, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, 80133 Napoli, Italy
Interests: zooplankton and micronekton ecology; carbon flux; mesopelagic fish; feeding ecology; Antarctica; Mediterranean sea
Dr. Pierluigi Carbonara

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
COISPA Tecnologia & Ricerca, Via dei Trulli 18, Torre a Mare, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: age reading and validation (otoliths, spines, vertebrae etc.); analysis of sex and maturity stage in fish; crustacean; cephalopods
Dr. Antonia Granata

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy
2. Institute for the Study of the Anthropic Impacts and Sustainability in the Marine Environment, National Research Council (CNR), Campobello di Mazara, 91021 Trapani, Italy
Interests: zooplankton and micronekton ecology and biodiversity; meso- and bathypelagic food web; ichthyoplankton; euphausiids; mysids; pelagic decapods and mesopelagic fish trophic behaviour, Antarctic and peri-Antarctic ecosystems; zooplankton response on climatic changes
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fish food webs underpin aquatic ecosystem functioning, shaping patterns of energy flow, species interactions, and, ultimately, the productivity and resilience of fisheries. Diet data provide a crucial foundation for understanding these dynamics. However, the wide variety of methods used to collect, analyze, and present diet information has often made it difficult to compare results across studies or to integrate them into broader ecosystem assessments. This Special Issue aims to address these challenges by focusing on how fish diet data can be better incorporated into ecosystem-based approaches, with the goal of advancing both scientific understanding and applied fisheries management.

The overall purpose of this Special Issue is to bring together methodological innovations, case studies, and synthesis efforts that highlight the value of diet data in fisheries science, particularly within the framework of Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management (EBFM). The scope spans traditional and newly developed methods, from stomach content and stable isotope analyses to fatty acid tracers, DNA metabarcoding, and automated image-based tools. By showcasing advances in data collection, standardization, analysis, and modelling, this Special Issue seeks to promote more reproducible, comparable, and accessible use of diet datasets across ecosystems and geographical regions. In addition, it will emphasize contributions that demonstrate how diet-based insights can directly support fishery managers and policy-makers in EBFM, conservation planning, and responses to climate change.

This Special Issue is positioned within a growing body of research that recognizes the importance of trophic interactions in shaping marine and freshwater ecosystems. Over the past decade, rapid progress in molecular and biochemical tools for dietary analysis, the establishment of global databases for ecological traits, and the development of new frameworks for ecosystem modelling have all advanced the field. Nonetheless, major challenges remain, particularly around harmonizing diet data across methods and regions, ensuring that datasets are openly available and follow FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles, and demonstrating how such data can inform real-world management and policy decisions. By linking methodological advances with applied ecosystem perspectives, this Special Issue aims to provide a timely contribution that strengthens our collective understanding of fish food webs and their role in ecosystem-based management.

Prof. Dr. Letterio Guglielmo
Dr. Pierluigi Carbonara
Dr. Antonia Granata
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fishes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fish food webs
  • diet analysis
  • DNA metabarcoding
  • stable isotopes
  • fatty acids
  • trophic networks
  • ecosystem approach
  • FAIR data
  • trophic position
  • feeding ecology

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 10144 KB  
Article
Ontogenetic Trophic Niche Shifts in Ctenochaetus striatus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825) in Response to Habitat Variation: A Case Study of the Xisha Islands
by Hongyu Xie, Yong Liu, Jinhui Sun, Jianzhong Shen and Teng Wang
Fishes 2026, 11(4), 245; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes11040245 - 17 Apr 2026
Abstract
Against the backdrop of global coral reef degradation, benthic resource structure is shifting from coral dominance to turf algae and detritus-dominated epilithic algal matrix (EAM). As a typical detritivorous reef fish, Ctenochaetus striatus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825) plays an important ecological role in [...] Read more.
Against the backdrop of global coral reef degradation, benthic resource structure is shifting from coral dominance to turf algae and detritus-dominated epilithic algal matrix (EAM). As a typical detritivorous reef fish, Ctenochaetus striatus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825) plays an important ecological role in regulating the functioning of degraded coral reef ecosystems. Using stable isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N), this study systematically compared the trophic niche characteristics of different size classes of C. striatus across four reef habitats in the Xisha Islands, South China Sea, representing a gradient of disturbance (Qilianyu Island > Lingyang Reef > North Reef > Langhua Reef), in order to elucidate habitat-specific ontogenetic shifts and their adaptive features. The results showed that C. striatus from Qilianyu Island and Lingyang Reef exhibited overall higher δ15N values, suggesting an overall pattern consistent with stronger nitrogen enrichment at the more disturbed reefs, whereas individuals from Langhua Reef had significantly lower δ13C values, indicating a stronger reliance on offshore-derived carbon pathways. Across size classes, the trophic niche area (SEAc) and intraspecific trophic heterogeneity, measured as mean nearest neighbor distance and standard deviation of nearest neighbor distance, of populations from Qilianyu Island, Lingyang Reef, and North Reef generally decreased with increasing body size, revealing a pattern of trophic convergence toward core resources. In contrast, the Langhua Reef population exhibited a distinct expansion–contraction pattern, suggesting flexible resource use across developmental stages under conditions of low human disturbance and high resource heterogeneity. Although smaller size classes generally showed high probabilities of niche overlap among reefs, overlap declined markedly in the largest size class, with most values falling below 50%, indicating that resource assimilation strategies increasingly reflected reef-specific resource backgrounds. These findings demonstrate that ontogenetic trophic niche shifts in C. striatus are not fixed, but are highly dependent on local resource context and habitat conditions. In degraded reefs with simplified resource structure, individuals tend to converge on core resource spectra to maintain survival, whereas in healthier reefs with greater habitat heterogeneity, they tend to show greater variation in major food sources and resource use. This study provides a theoretical basis for coral reef ecological restoration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feeding the Future: Diet Data and Ecosystem Perspectives on Fish Food Webs)
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18 pages, 1347 KB  
Article
Seasonal Open-Water Diet Composition of Non-Native Yellow Bass in Six Iowa Natural Lakes
by Jonathan R. Meerbeek and Seth M. Renner
Fishes 2026, 11(2), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes11020124 - 22 Feb 2026
Viewed by 305
Abstract
Many species within the family Moronidae possess biological traits that facilitate their success as invasive species in freshwater ecosystems. In Iowa, USA, non-native Yellow Bass (Morone mississippiensis) have expanded their range into at least 19 glacial natural lakes, yet their trophic [...] Read more.
Many species within the family Moronidae possess biological traits that facilitate their success as invasive species in freshwater ecosystems. In Iowa, USA, non-native Yellow Bass (Morone mississippiensis) have expanded their range into at least 19 glacial natural lakes, yet their trophic interactions in these complex systems remain poorly understood. From 2018 to 2020, we evaluated the open-water diet composition of 1300 Yellow Bass across six Iowa natural lakes to quantify diet composition, feeding intensity, and ontogenetic dietary shifts. While zooplankton numerically dominated diets across most systems (>80% by number) biomass was driven primarily by benthic invertebrates and fish. Feeding intensity was not uniform, characterized by a distinct suppression of foraging during late spring followed by intense feeding in early summer. Overall, we found that Yellow Bass foraging is highly plastic but heavily constrained by spatial (lake identity, season, and year) and biological (ontogeny, age, and sex) filters. Spatial heterogeneity was the primary driver of diet composition (R2=0.407), with individual lakes explaining the largest portion of variance (R2=0.126). The interaction between lake size and population history (R2=0.054) was also significant, highlighting that the ecological impact of Yellow Bass is context-dependent, differing among established populations in small lakes versus recent invasions in large lakes. We identified distinct ontogenetic breakpoints at 114 mm and 252 mm; fish < 114 mm were obligate zooplanktivores, while significant piscivory was restricted to large adults (>252 mm). These results suggest that the successful colonization of Yellow Bass is supported by high dietary plasticity, which may lead to intensive resource competition with native juveniles. Our findings provide a critical baseline for fisheries managers to assess the ecological risks associated with Yellow Bass expansion and emphasize the importance of monitoring trophic shifts to preserve the integrity of native fish communities in the Midwest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feeding the Future: Diet Data and Ecosystem Perspectives on Fish Food Webs)
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21 pages, 3717 KB  
Article
Dietary Analysis of Commercial Fish (Families Mullidae and Sparidae) from Bay of Cádiz, Southern Spain: An Integrative Approach
by José Manuel Guerra-García, Sandra Calero-Cano, Pablo Arechavala-Lopez, Juan Lucas Cervera-Currado and Iñigo Donázar-Aramendía
Fishes 2025, 10(12), 650; https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes10120650 - 16 Dec 2025
Viewed by 576
Abstract
A combination of stomach contents analysis (SCA) and nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) stable isotope analysis (SIA) was used to assess the trophic structure of nine fish species (two belonging to the family Mullidae, Mullus barbatus and Mullus surmuletus [...] Read more.
A combination of stomach contents analysis (SCA) and nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) stable isotope analysis (SIA) was used to assess the trophic structure of nine fish species (two belonging to the family Mullidae, Mullus barbatus and Mullus surmuletus, and seven belonging to the family Sparidae, Diplodus sargus, Diplodus vulgaris, Pagellus acarne, Pagellus erythrinus, Pagrus auriga, Pagrus pagrus, and Sparus aurata) with high commercial value in the Bay of Cádiz, Southern Spain. A total of 91 different food items were identified in the stomachs, mainly belonging to four animal phyla (Arthropoda, Mollusca, Annelida, and Echinodermata). Crustaceans (primarily decapods and amphipods) were the most common prey consumed by the species of Mullus, Pagrus, and Pagellus, whereas macroalgae, polychaetes, and molluscs were dominant in D. sargus, D. vulgaris, and S. aurata stomachs, respectively. Diet composition and isotopic signature differed among fish species, indicating food partitioning among coexisting species. Some discrepancies appeared when comparing fish trophic level using SCA versus SIA, since SCA provides information on recently consumed items, while SIA generates data about source utilization over a period of several months. Integration of both approaches offers a more comprehensive understanding of feeding strategies. Dietary studies shed light on the trophic ecology of commercial fish species, being the baseline for future ecological modelling and long-term management of marine resources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feeding the Future: Diet Data and Ecosystem Perspectives on Fish Food Webs)
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