The study of predation in the early life stages of fish by direct observation of their stomach content is very difficult, mostly because prey lose all identifiable characteristics.
We developed a multiplex-PCR based method, which detected within the gut of the larvae the presence/absence of the five main species of copepods that live in Malaga Bay: Clausocalanus parapergens, Oncaea waldemari, Paracalanus indicus, Temora stylifera and Acartia clausi.
A set of five species-specific primers were designed and combined in a single multiplex PCR system, which allowed a time and cost effective screening of the samples. The method detected as little as 0.09 ng/μL of copepod DNA without cross-reactions with Sardina pilchardus DNA
