Consumption rates of tethered live and dead pinfish and dried squid in mudflat and seagrass habitats in the Upper Laguna Madre in 2018.

These data were recorded during surveys of a tethering experiment conducted on June 7, 2018, during which 180 tethered prey were deployed in two habitat types (seagrass and mudflat) in the Upper Laguna Madre, Texas, USA (27.544006, -97.285912). In each habitat, the following prey types were deployed: squidpops (1 cm2 discs of dried squid (Duffy et al. 2015) attached to 5 cm tethers, n=50), live (n=20) and dead (n=20) pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides, 4 cm fork length, attached to 20 cm tethers) at midday in each habitat. The presence/absence of tethered prey on each stake was observed and recorded after 1 hour and 24 hours. The rate of decay (i.e., disappearance or consumption rate of tethered prey over time) was calculated as the slope of an exponential model fit to discrete observations of the presence/absence of tethered prey over time. Additional environmental variables (temperature, salinity) were also recorded at the site.