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¹ Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Faculty of Fisheries, Kötekli, Muğla, 48000, Turkey
² University of Łódź,, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, Department of Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology, 12/16 Banacha Str., 90-237 Łódź, Poland
³ Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Science and Letters Faculty, Department of Biology, 17100, Çanakkale, Turkey
⁴ Bournemouth University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Centre for Conservation Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v18_11_04 Viewed : 7682 - Downloaded : 2856 Several Ponto-Caspian gobiids have expanded from their native distribution ranges to Europe and North America. As knowledge on their bio-ecological features in their native range is still limited, the trophic ecology of monkey goby Neogobius fluviatilis and Western tubenose goby Proterorhinus semilunaris was studied in three natural lakes in the Marmara Region of NW Turkey using the stable isotopes of δ13C and δ15N. In two of the lakes, the trophic niches (as the isotopic niche) of the gobies were highly divergent with co-existing native fishes, with no overlap. Moreover, mixing models suggests considerable inter-specific dietary differences. In all lakes, the trophic niches of gobies were never significantly larger than those of coexisting fishes. These results suggest that when introduced outside of their natural range, the gobies might integrate into new fish communities via exploiting resources that are underexploited by native fishes or will initially share resources with these species before their niches diverge, perhaps through competitive displacement. Keywords : Monkey goby, tubenose goby, isotopic niche, niche plasticity, trophic relationships