Comparison of feeding guild structure and ecomorphology of intertidal fish assemblages from central California and central Chile (California, Chile)

The hypothesis that ecological and morphological convergence of the taxonomically distinct intertidal fish assemblages from central Chile and central California has occurred was tested by comparing the feeding guild structures and the morphologies associated with food capture and processing of species from each region. The diets of intertidal fishes from California (determined in this study) and Chile (determined in another study) were used to describe and compare guild structures. Ten morphological features were examined for species in each region, and the relationship between diet and morphology was evaluated. Three guilds, omnivore, microcarnivore, and carnivore, were common to both regions, but a fourth, polychaete feeders, was unique to California. Guild structure was not associated with phylogenetic relatedness in either assemblage. Diet-morphology associations were found within each fauna; however, few associations between diet and morphology were consistent between regions. Interregional morphological patterns were associated with phylogenetic relatedness rather than diet.