Ecology Summary - Sousa chinensis

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Ecology of Sousa chinensis

Main Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993
Remarks	Inhabits tropical to warm temperate coastal waters and they enter rivers, estuaries, and mangroves (Ref. 1394). Usually in groups of 10 or fewer individuals (Ref. 801). Feeding is primarily on nearshore, estuaries, specifically on reef fish (Ref. 1394). Feeds on bony fishes (Ref. 85079) and squids (Ref. 80529). Great white shark Carcharodon carcharias is reported to be its potential predator (Ref. 104929).

Main Ref.

Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993

Remarks

Inhabits tropical to warm temperate coastal waters and they enter rivers, estuaries, and mangroves (Ref. 1394). Usually in groups of 10 or fewer individuals (Ref. 801). Feeding is primarily on nearshore, estuaries, specifically on reef fish (Ref. 1394). Feeds on bony fishes (Ref. 85079) and squids (Ref. 80529). Great white shark Carcharodon carcharias is reported to be its potential predator (Ref. 104929).

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 Sousa chinensis may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Pelagic;
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats	Coral Reefs;
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993
Associations	parasitism;
Associated with	nematode Halocercus pingi (Ref. 104975).
Association remarks
Parasitism	inside host (Found in the lungs (Ref. 104975).)

feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	4.50	0.80			Troph of juv./adults.
From individual food items	4.50	0.80			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Krishnan, A.A., K.S. Yousuf, P.L. Kumaran, N. Harish, B. Anoop, V. Afsal, M. Rajagopalan, E. Vivekanandan, P.K. Krishnakumar and P. Jayasankar, 2008

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