More often, less each: Averaging can hide opposing trends in prey occurrence and consumer stomach content.

Authors

S Neuenfeldt

Published in

Journal of fish biology. Sep 08, 2026. Epub Sep 08, 2026.

Abstract

Averages of prey mass in fish stomachs are widely used to track changes in feeding. Yet, a mean over all stomachs is the exact product of two quantities-the frequency of occurrence of a prey and its mean content in the stomachs that contained it-which can move in opposite directions. In Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) in the Baltic Sea, a stable mean benthos content concealed a falling content of consumers and a rising frequency of occurrence, opposing trends that can signal density dependence or responses to hypoxia.

PMID:
42711271
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 09 Sep 2026.

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