Ecology Summary - Sillago ciliata

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Main Ref.	Coleman, N., 1980
Remarks	Occur in coastal beaches, sandbars and surf zones as well as open bays, estuaries and coastal lakes; specimens have occasionally been taken in offshore waters to 40 m during winter. May be said to live exclusively on sandy ground. Adults gather around the mouths of estuaries, bars and pits, in depths down to 5 m. Juveniles inhabit shallow areas with some seagrass (Ref. 6205). Sand whiting forage for burrowing or benthic animals by using their conical snout to plough through sand or mud (Ref. 6390). Juveniles (1-5 cm FL) favour unvegetated, marine habitats as nursery areas (West & King, 1996) in northern New South Wales, and in Botany Bay, Zostera seagrass beds are important habitats (Ref. 6223). Food selection changes with fish size (smaller fish eat fewer polychaetes; larger fish eat a lot of bivalves and yabbies (Ref. 6390).

Main Ref.

Coleman, N., 1980

Remarks

Occur in coastal beaches, sandbars and surf zones as well as open bays, estuaries and coastal lakes; specimens have occasionally been taken in offshore waters to 40 m during winter. May be said to live exclusively on sandy ground. Adults gather around the mouths of estuaries, bars and pits, in depths down to 5 m. Juveniles inhabit shallow areas with some seagrass (Ref. 6205). Sand whiting forage for burrowing or benthic animals by using their conical snout to plough through sand or mud (Ref. 6390). Juveniles (1-5 cm FL) favour unvegetated, marine habitats as nursery areas (West & King, 1996) in northern New South Wales, and in Botany Bay, Zostera seagrass beds are important habitats (Ref. 6223). Food selection changes with fish size (smaller fish eat fewer polychaetes; larger fish eat a lot of bivalves and yabbies (Ref. 6390).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Sillago ciliata may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Benthic; Soft Bottom Hard Bottom;
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats	Beds: sea grass;
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Burchmore, J.J., D.A. Pollard, M.J. Middleton, J.D. Bell and B.C. Pease, 1988
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Burchmore, J.J., D.A. Pollard, M.J. Middleton, J.D. Bell and B.C. Pease, 1988

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	3.24	0.15	3.12	0.28	Troph of juv./adults from 2 studies.
From individual food items	3.36	0.47			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Burchmore, J.J., D.A. Pollard, M.J. Middleton, J.D. Bell and B.C. Pease, 1988

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