PLOS ONE · 9 authors, 5 centres
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DNA metabarcoding of gut contents from 207 Nephrops norvegicus specimens collected across the North Sea and Irish Sea identified 119 prey MOTUs, revealing an opportunistic generalist diet with substantial suspension feeding and high parasitic dinoflagellate prevalence.
Illumina sequencing yielded over 18 million reads, though 98.6% were assigned to host Nephropidae and removed. Dinoflagellata, Chlorophyta, and Bacillariophyta accounted for nearly 50% of prey items, consistent with suspension feeding. Fish species associated with high fisheries discard rates were also detected. Rarefaction curves did not reach saturation, indicating that additional sampling would recover further dietary diversity. The authors note that PCR inhibition from digestive enzymes and amplification bias toward host DNA are methodological limitations.
