The diet of the brown wrasse Labrus merula (Labridae) in the eastern Adriatic

The diet of the brown wrasse (Labrus merula) was investigated in studying t he gut contents of 101 individuals sampled between April and July in Vrhovn jaci Archipelago and 93 individuals sampled between April and June at Islan d Palagruza, eastern middle Adriatic, Croatian waters. Decapods and bivalve s were the major prey categories in both areas. Algae and gastropods were a lso frequently eaten but in much smaller amounts. The volume of the major f ood categories did not vary significantly with fish length. Fish longer tha n 20 cm did consume greater volumes of bivalves than smaller fish. The diet of both sexes was very similar in Vrhovnjaci (C lambda = 0.90), while in P alagruza niche overlap between sexes was lower (C lambda = 0.63).