One feature of particular interest is that a spatiotemporal gradient existed in the ontogenetic shifts observed for Leiopotherapon unicolor in the present study, as different sampling occasions showed particularly different patterns in the composition of dietary items across size classes. During February 2002 at South Callandoon Lagoon West, for example, larger individuals switched from calanoid copepods as the main microcrustacean food item to ostracods and moinid cladocerans, and to a lesser extent, corixids, and the dietary contribution of calanoids at the same location was much lower during May 2002.