Carbon and nitrogen content of food and the assimilation efficiencies of penaeid prawns in the Gulf of Carpentaria

Abstract

The food of seven species of penaeid prawns from the Gulf of Carpentaria consists predominantly of Foraminifera, small molluscs, crustaceans and polychaetes. Measurements of organic and inorganic carbon, organic nitrogen and bacterial biomass were made. Foregut contents of adult prawns contained between 72 and 223 mg organic carbon/g dry wt. Protein constituted between 43 and 64% of the organic matter. Approximate assimilation efficiencies of food in prawns caught in the gulf, determined for four species, varied from 48 to 77% of organic carbon and from 42 to 77% of organic nitrogen. The food of juvenile Penaeus merguiensis was examined for two growing seasons. In the 1976-1977 season the foregut contents contained a mean of 41 mg organic nitrogen /g dry wt and 181 mg organic carbon /g dry wt. In the 1977-1978 season, significantly lower proportions of organic nitrogen and carbon were eaten, viz, 21 mg organic nitrogenlg dry wt and 101 mg organic carbon /g dry wt. Improved assay procedures for muramic acid have shown that bacteria are less important in the food of prawns than previously reported. Bacteria constituted less than 2% of the organic matter in the adults of all species, but in many juvenile P. merguiensis bacteria were more important, constituting up to 14% of organic matter.