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Herbivory in the tilapia Oreochromis niloticus: a comparison of feeding rates on phytoplankton and periphyton
Author(s) -
Dempster P. W.,
Beveridge M. C. M.,
Baird D. J.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1993.tb00573.x
Subject(s) - periphyton , biology , oreochromis , plankton , algae , grazing , phytoplankton , ingestion , tilapia , cyanobacteria , oscillatoria , biomass (ecology) , ecology , zoology , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , nutrient , bacteria , biochemistry , genetics
A quantitative comparison of the grazing behaviour of young Oreochromis niloticus feeding on the planktonic cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa and a periphytic community dominated by the cyanobacterium Oscillatoria sp., determined that biomass ingestion rates of fish filter‐feeding on planktonic cyanobacteria were significantly lower than those surface‐grazing on periphyton. Comparisons of published laboratory data on filter‐feeding with field data on algal ingestion rates suggest that filter‐feeding may be a relatively unimportant method of ingesting algae.