Diet assessment of the Atlantic Sea Nettle Chrysaora quinquecirrha in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, using next-generation sequencing

Next generation sequencing (NGS) methodologies have proven useful in deciphering the food items of generalist predators, but have yet to be applied to gelatinous animal gut and tentacle content. NGS can potentially supplement traditional methods of visual identification. Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Atlantic sea nettle) has progressively become more abundant in Mid-Atlantic United States’ estuaries including Barnegat Bay (New Jersey), potentially having detrimental effects on both marine organisms and human enterprises. Full characterization of this predator's diet is essential for a comprehensive understanding of its impact on the food web and its management. Here we tested the efficacy of NGS for prey item determination in the Atlantic sea nettle. We implemented a NGS “shotgun” approach to randomly sequence DNA fragments isolated from gut lavages and gastric pouch/tentacle picks of 8 and 84 sea nettles, respectively. These results were verified by visual identification and co-occurring pl...