Ecology Summary - Ginglymostoma cirratum

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Main Ref.	Compagno, L.J.V., 1984
Remarks	Common over shallow sand flats, in channels, and around coral reefs; Young may be found among prop roots of red mangroves (Ref. 26938). Found on continental and insular shelves. A solitary (Ref. 26340) and sluggish fish, often encountered lying on the bottom (Ref. 9987). Macro-carnivore (Ref. 126840). Nocturnal, feeding on bottom invertebrates such as spiny lobsters, shrimps, crabs, sea urchins, squids, octopi, snails and bivalves, and fishes like catfishes, mullets, puffers and stingrays. Algae is occasionally found in its stomach. This species feeds by sucking in food at high speed through its small mouth and large, bellows-like pharynx. It feeds on big, heavy-shelled conchs by flipping them over and extracting the snail from its shell, presumably with its teeth and by suction. Carnivore (Ref. 57616).

Main Ref.

Compagno, L.J.V., 1984

Remarks

Common over shallow sand flats, in channels, and around coral reefs; Young may be found among prop roots of red mangroves (Ref. 26938). Found on continental and insular shelves. A solitary (Ref. 26340) and sluggish fish, often encountered lying on the bottom (Ref. 9987). Macro-carnivore (Ref. 126840). Nocturnal, feeding on bottom invertebrates such as spiny lobsters, shrimps, crabs, sea urchins, squids, octopi, snails and bivalves, and fishes like catfishes, mullets, puffers and stingrays. Algae is occasionally found in its stomach. This species feeds by sucking in food at high speed through its small mouth and large, bellows-like pharynx. It feeds on big, heavy-shelled conchs by flipping them over and extracting the snail from its shell, presumably with its teeth and by suction. Carnivore (Ref. 57616).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Ginglymostoma cirratum may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Soft Bottom
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats	Coral Reefs; Other habitats: deep-water corals;
Special habitats Ref.	Simon, T., H.T. Pinheiro, R.L. Moura, A. Carvalho-Filho, L.A. Rocha, A.S. Martins, E. Mazzei, R.B. Francini-Filho, G.M. Amado-Filho and J.-C. Joyeux, 2016

Associations

Ref.	Claro, R., 1994
Associations	solitary;
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Cortés, E., 1999
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Randall, J.E., 1967

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	4.15	0.21	3.77	0.50	Troph of juv./adults from 2 studies.
From individual food items	4.30	0.74			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Cortés, E., 1999

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