Table 4 Abundance percentage (%N), estimated weight percentage (%eW) and frequency of occurrence (%F) of cephalopod prey (species and family) identified from the stomach contents of large pelagic predators caught in the central Mediterranean (SWO = Swordfish; BFT = Blue-fin tuna; ALB = Albacore; MSP = Mediterranean spearfish)
Superorder and order | Prey types | SWO | BFT | ALB | MSP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
%N | %eW | %F | %N | %eW | %F | %N | %eW | %F | %N | %eW | %F | ||
Octopodiformes | |||||||||||||
Octopoda | Octopodidae | 0.4 | <0.1 | 2.4 | – | – | – | 5.1 | 3.3 | 24.0 | – | – | – |
 E. cirrhosa | 0.1 | <0.1 | 0.8 | – | – | – | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.0 | – | – | – | |
 P. tetracirrhus | 0.3 | <0.1 | 1.6 | – | – | – | 3.4 | 2.2 | 24.0 | – | – | – | |
 S. unicirrhus | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1.6 | 1.0 | 5.0 | – | – | – | |
Argonautidae (A. argo) | 1.4 | 0.1 | 7.3 | 3.1 | 0.6 | 18.2 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 10.0 | 19.3 | 6.1 | 2.0 | |
Ocythoidae (O. tuberculata) | 1.1 | 0.1 | 5.6 | – | – | – | 0.4 | 0.2 | 4.0 | – | – | – | |
Tremoctopodidae (T. violaceus) | 1.8 | 4.2 | 4.8 | 36.6 | 37.9 | 36.4 | – | – | – | 24.6 | 22.3 | 1.8 | |
Decapodiformes | |||||||||||||
Oegopsida | Brachioteuthidae (B. riisei) | 0.6 | <0.1 | 3.2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Chiroteuthidae (C. veranyi) | 1.8 | 0.1 | 5.6 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 4.5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
Cranchiidae (G. armata) | 1.6 | 0.1 | 6.5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
Ancistrocheiridae (A. lesueurii) | 0.3 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 0.8 | <0.1 | 4.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 30.3 | 0.8 | |
Enoploteuthidae (A. veranyi) | 0.4 | <0.1 | 2.4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
Histioteuthidae | 3.1 | 1.2 | 15.3 | 3.1 | 2.6 | 13.6 | 0.1 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 19.3 | 10.9 | 1.5 | |
 H. bonnellii | 1.3 | 0.3 | 7.3 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 4.5 | – | – | – | 12.3 | 4.9 | 0.8 | |
 H. reversa | 1.8 | 0.9 | 8.9 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 9.1 | 0.1 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 6.0 | 1.0 | |
Octopoteuthidae (O. cfr sicula) | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
Ocythoidae (O. tuberculata) | 1.1 | 0.1 | 5.6 | – | – | – | 0.4 | 0.2 | 4.0 | – | – | – | |
Ommastrephidae | 43.9 | 49.7 | 79.8 | 27.5 | 17.1 | 63.6 | 13.5 | 32.2 | 48.0 | 28.1 | 26.2 | 2.0 | |
 I. coindetii | 10.0 | 8.3 | 37.9 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 13.6 | 1.7 | 8.1 | 18.0 | 22.8 | 23.1 | 1.5 | |
 O. bartrami | 3.4 | 4.7 | 18.5 | 3.1 | 6.7 | 13.6 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
 T. sagittatus | 30.5 | 36.7 | 62.9 | 19.8 | 6.8 | 59.1 | 11.8 | 24.1 | 46.0 | 5.3 | 3.1 | 0.5 | |
 T. eblanae | – | – | – | 1.5 | 1.9 | 9.1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
Onychoteuthidae | 26.5 | 9.4 | 58.9 | 19.8 | 6.2 | 54.6 | 14.5 | 35.6 | 58.0 | 1.8 | 4.1 | 0.3 | |
 A. lichtensteini | 19.6 | 8.7 | 48.4 | 6.9 | 3.0 | 31.8 | 4.9 | 11.2 | 33.0 | – | – | – | |
 O. banksii | 6.9 | 0.7 | 21.8 | 13.0 | 3.2 | 31.8 | 9.6 | 24.4 | 57.0 | 1.8 | 4.1 | 0.3 | |
Thysanoteuthidae (T. rhombus) | 0.5 | 33.5 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 35.0 | 4.5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
Myopsida | Loliginidae (A. subulata) | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0.1 | 0.2 | 1.0 | – | – | – |
Sepioidea | Sepiolidae (H. dispar) | 16.7 | 0.2 | 33.9 | 7.6 | 0.1 | 13.6 | 65.0 | 24.0 | 66.0 | – | – | – |