{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,10]],"date-time":"2026-04-10T15:41:53Z","timestamp":1775835713834,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,18]],"date-time":"2021-05-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1621296000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009639","name":"Mathematics Division, National Center for Theoretical Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009639","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004663","name":"Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004663","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004663","name":"Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004663","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Prey availability plays an important role in determining larval fish survival. Numerous studies have found close relationships between the density of mesozooplankton and larval fishes; however, emerging studies suggest that small-size zooplankton are more important prey for some larval fish species. One arising question is whether the size of zooplankton determines the relationship between zooplankton and larval fish community in natural environments. To address this question, we collected small-size (50\u2013200 \u03bcm) zooplankton, mesozooplankton (&gt; 330 \u03bcm), and larval fish using three different mesh-size (50, 330, 1000 \u03bcm, respectively) nets in the East China Sea, and examined their relationships in density. Both meso- and small-size zooplankton densities showed positive relationships with larval fish density, while the relationship is much stronger for the small-size zooplankton. Specifically, the smallest size classes (50\u201375 and 75\u2013100 \u03bcm) of small-size zooplankton showed the highest positive relationships with larval fish density. Temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll-a concentration did not significantly explain larval fish density. Based on these findings, we demonstrate the importance of considering prey size when investigating prey availability for larval fishes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0251344","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,18]],"date-time":"2021-05-18T17:42:51Z","timestamp":1621359771000},"page":"e0251344","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Importance of prey size on investigating prey availability of larval fishes"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Yu-Hsuan","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9037-0042","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Hsiao-Hang","family":"Tao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Gwo-Ching","family":"Gong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Chih-hao","family":"Hsieh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0251344.ref001","article-title":"Fluctuations in the great fisheries of northern Europe viewed in light of biological research","volume":"20","author":"J. 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