Predation on early life stages of Atlantic Sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus (ATS) may be a constraint to species recovery. Due to the difficulty in assessing consumption of early life stages with traditional diet analysis methods, we pursued an alternative DNA‐based approach. We extracted total gut content from gastrointestinal tracts of 23 fish species (593 samples) within the tidal‐fresh Pamunkey River fish assemblage collected from known ATS spawning grounds during prime spawning periods (September‐October) in 2016. High‐throughput DNA sequencing was used to amplify two markers for each sample: mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA gene. DNA sequences were compared to custom, SILVA 132, and NCBI databases. Results showed presence of ATS DNA in 22 samples (4%) across multiple native and nonnative tidal‐fresh fishes. The highest percentage of consumption occurred in samples from Common Carp Cyprinus carpio (11.5) and Striped Bass Morone saxatilis (12.5). Six percent of Blue Catfish Ictalurus furcatus samples had target DNA. Considering there were no bony structures or tissue resembling ATS during morphological evaluation, DNA detections were likely from partially‐fully digested eggs or early developing days‐old larvae. High‐throughput sequencing is capable of detecting consumption of ATS.

中文翻译：

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高通量DNA测序证明大西洋st鱼（Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus Mitchill，1815）生命早期消耗

大西洋St鱼cip鱼的早期生活阶段的捕食（ATS）可能会限制物种恢复。由于传统饮食分析方法难以评估早期生命的消耗，因此我们寻求了一种基于DNA的替代方法。我们在2016年的主要产卵期（9月至10月）从已知的ATS产卵场收集的潮汐-新鲜Pamunkey河鱼群中的23种鱼类（593个样本）的胃肠道中提取了总肠道含量。采用高通量DNA测序为每个样品扩增两个标记：线粒体细胞色素C氧化酶I（COI）和核18S核糖体RNA基因。将DNA序列与定制数据库，SILVA 132数据库和NCBI数据库进行比较。结果表明，在多种天然和非天然潮汐鱼类中，有22个样品（占4％）中存在ATS DNA。鲤鱼（11.5）和条纹鲈Morone saxatilis（12.5）。蓝Cat鱼Ictalurus furcatus样品中有6％具有目标DNA。考虑到在形态学评估中没有骨结构或类似ATS的组织，DNA的检测可能是从部分消化的卵或发育初期的幼龄幼虫中进行的。高通量测序能够检测ATS的消耗。