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Baseline Characterization of the Oregon State University Ocean Sentinel Site: Characteristics of five flatfish species on the Central Oregon coast

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Title Baseline Characterization of the Oregon
State University Ocean Sentinel Site: Characteristics of five flatfish species on the
Central Oregon coast
Names Clark, Caitlyn E. (creator)
Henkel, Sarah K. (advisor)
Date Issued 2014-03-15 (iso8601)
Note Honors Bachelor of Science (HBS)
Abstract This study is a preassessment of the ecological status of habitats and species potentially
affected by wave energy device installation, focusing on five flatfish species. Butter sole
(Isopsetta isolepis), English sole (Parophrys vetulus), Sand sole (Psettichthys
melanostictus), Pacific sanddab (Citharichthys sordidus), and Speckled sanddab
(Citharichthys stigmaeus) were collected bimonthly from June 2010 to July 2012. Fish
were then analyzed and dissected to determine overall and gut condition. Gut contents
were also identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible using light microscopy, and
then measured for caloric density via bomb calorimetry. Results suggest that Pacific
sanddab and Sand sole have similar epibenthic diets, while English sole diets are mainly
infaunal prey. Butter sole is an intermediate feeder, sometimes eating infaunal prey, and
Speckled sanddab is similarly an intermediate feeder, but different in that it mainly eats
infaunal prey. Condition of these fish varied by month, and at times, showed a response
to seasonal prey abundances. The caloric density did not vary significantly over “meal”
types.
Genre Thesis
Topic benthic ecology
Identifier http://hdl.handle.net/1957/52428

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