38 Feeding guilds by management bodies
Description: Classification of species guild membership by management bodies.
Indicator family:
Contributor(s): Sarah Gaichas and Sean Lucey.
Affiliations: NEFSC
38.1 Introduction to Indicator
Feeding guilds are groups of species that feed similarly. At the ecosystem level, the food web is likely stable if overall biomass of feeding groups is stable over time, even if populations of species within the groups may be changing.
We defined feeding guilds for fish and invertebrates captured by bottom trawl surveys using diet similarity, either from diet analysis or from literature [69,70], and see NEFSC food habits online
38.2 Key Results and Visualizations
Each management body (MAFMC, NEFSC, State etc) has its managed species associated with different feeding guilds. This data set shows which managed species for each management body are in which guilds.
38.2.1 MidAtlantic
Guild |
MAFMC |
Joint |
NEFMC |
State or Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
apex predator |
shark uncl, swordfish, yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna |
|||
piscivore |
summer flounder, bluefish, northern shortfin squid, longfin squid |
spiny dogfish, goosefish |
winter skate, clearnose skate, thorny skate, offshore hake, silver hake, atlantic cod, pollock, white hake, red hake, atlantic halibut, acadian redfish |
sea lamprey, sandbar shark, atlantic angel shark, atlantic torpedo, conger eel, spotted hake, cusk, fourspot flounder, windowpane, john dory, atlantic cutlassfish, blue runner, striped bass, weakfish, sea raven, northern stargazer, banded rudderfish, atlantic sharpnose shark, inshore lizardfish, atlantic brief squid, northern sennet, king mackerel, spanish mackerel |
planktivore |
atlantic mackerel, chub mackerel, butterfish |
atlantic herring |
harvestfishes, smelts, round herring, alewife, blueback herring, american shad, menhaden, bay anchovy, striped anchovy, rainbow smelt, atlantic argentine, slender snipe eel, atlantic silverside, northern pipefish, atlantic moonfish, lookdown, blackbelly rosefish, lumpfish, northern sand lance, atlantic saury, mackerel scad, bigeye scad, round scad, rough scad, silver rag, weitzmans pearlsides, atlantic soft pout, sevenspine bay shrimp, pink glass shrimp, polar lebbeid, friendly blade shrimp, bristled longbeak, aesop shrimp, norwegian shrimp, northern shrimp, brown rock shrimp, atlantic thread herring, spanish sardine, atlantic bumper, harvestfish, striated argentine, silver anchovy |
|
benthivore |
black sea bass, scup, tilefish |
barndoor skate, rosette skate, little skate, smooth skate, haddock, american plaice, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, atlantic wolffish, ocean pout, crab,red deepsea |
crab,unc, hagfish, porgy,red, sea bass,nk, atlantic hagfish, roughtail stingray, smooth dogfish, chain dogfish, bluntnose stingray, bullnose ray, southern stingray, longfin hake, fourbeard rockling, marlin-spike, gulf stream flounder, longspine snipefish, blackmouth bass, threespine stickleback, smallmouth flounder, hogchoker, bigeye, atlantic croaker, pigfish, northern kingfish, silver perch, spot, deepbody boarfish, sculpin uncl, moustache sculpin, longhorn sculpin, alligatorfish, grubby, atlantic seasnail, northern searobin, striped searobin, armored searobin, cunner, tautog, snakeblenny, daubed shanny, radiated shanny, red goatfish, striped cusk-eel, wolf eelpout, wrymouth, fawn cusk-eel, northern puffer, striped burrfish, planehead filefish, gray triggerfish, shortnose greeneye, beardfish, cownose ray, american lobster, cancer crab uncl, jonah crab, atlantic rock crab, blue crab, spider crab uncl, horseshoe crab, coarsehand lady crab, lady crab, northern stone crab, snow crab, spiny butterfly ray, smooth butterfly ray, snakefish, atlantic midshipman, bank cusk-eel, red cornetfish, squid cuttlefish and octopod uncl, spoonarm octopus, bank sea bass, rock sea bass, sand perch, cobia, crevalle jack, vermilion snapper, tomtate, jolthead porgy, saucereye porgy, whitebone porgy, knobbed porgy, sheepshead porgy, littlehead porgy, silver porgy, pinfish, red porgy, porgy and pinfish uncl, banded drum, southern kingfish, atlantic spadefish, leopard searobin, dusky flounder, triggerfish filefish uncl, blackcheek tonguefish, orange filefish, queen triggerfish, ocean triggerfish |
|
benthos |
atlantic surfclam, ocean quahog |
sea scallop |
sea cucumber, sea urchins, snails(conchs), sea urchin and sand dollar uncl, channeled whelk, blue mussel |
38.4 Implications
We changed species groupings in response to comments over the years. The table shows feeding guilds used in the 2024-2025 reports. In 2025 an FMP column was added in response to Council requests.
38.5 Get the data
Point of contact: Sarah.Gaichas@noaa.gov
ecodata name: ecodata::species_groupings
Variable definitions
SOE.24 = Feeding guild definitions for State of the Ecosystem report (2024-2025)
MAFMC = Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council - list of managed species by feeding guild
NEFMC = New England Fishery Management Council - list of managed species by feeding guild
Joint = Jointly managed species by feeding guild
State or Other = Species managed by other bodies listed by feeding guild
FMP = Fishery Management Plan for Council managed species
Indicator Category:
38.7 Accessibility and Constraints
No response
tech-doc link https://noaa-edab.github.io/tech-doc/species_groupings.html