Resumen

CASTILLO, Katherine; IBANEZ, Christian M; GONZALEZ, Carlos  y  CHONG, Javier. Diet of swordfish Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, 1758 from different fishing zones off central-Chile during autumn 2004. Rev. biol. mar. oceanogr. [online]. 2007, vol.42, n.2, pp. 149-156. ISSN 0718-1957.  doi: 10.4067/S0718-19572007000200002.

The habitat of the predator and sample size (stomach number) are some of the most important factors to consider in the study of its diet. To investigate these variations we studied the diet of 51 swordfish Xiphias gladius (range: 173-301 cm) in four fishing areas off central Chile (30ºS - 40ºS) during autumn-winter of 2004. Frequency of occurrence, numeric and gravimetric methods were used to describe the diet. The sample size was evaluated using rarefaction curves. Prey richness, diversity, dominance, and evenness were calculated and compared between fishing areas. Xiphias gladius mainly fed on squid (10 species) and secondarily fish (5 species), being jumbo squid Dosidicus gigas the main prey in all the fishing areas. Sample size was not enough to adecuately describe the diet of X. gladius, and geographical variation could not be assessed

Palabras clave : Swordfish; Xiphias gladius; stomach contents; feeding; cephalopods; diet variations; Chile.