FEEDING GUILD STRUCTURE OF A ROCKY INTERTIDAL FISH ASSEMBLAGE IN CENTRAL CHILE

The identification and analysis of the guild structure of vertebrate a ssemblages has played a fundamental role in the understanding of the u nderlying mechanisms responsible for their community organization and structuring. This approach generally has not been undertaken for tempe rate water intertidal fish assemblages. In central Chile, fishes are i mportant components of the intertidal community, but no studies attemp ting to understand their organization and structuring have been done. In the present study, the diets of 13 of the most abundant species whi ch inhabit tidepools in the rocky intertidal zone of central Chile wer e determined. A total of 660 fishes was collected at 5 sites: Los Moll es: Con-Con, Quintay, El Tabo, and Las Cruces. Dietary overlap between all species pairs was calculated and a phenogram of dietary similarit y was constructed and analyzed using a bootstrapping technique to obje ctively determine guild membership, The results showed that the intert idal fish assemblage of central Chile can be divided into three feedin g guilds: two guilds consisting of carnivorous species and one guild o f omnivorous and herbivorous species. The possible causes and implicat ions of the resulting guild structure and the potential effects of pre dation by these fishes on other components of the intertidal community are discussed.