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Effect of body colour of Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters) on predation by largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède)
Author(s) -
TAVE D.,
REZK M.,
SMITHERMAN R.O.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
aquaculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2109
pISSN - 1355-557X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2109.1991.tb00505.x
Subject(s) - tilapia , micropterus , bass (fish) , oreochromis mossambicus , biology , fishery , oreochromis , predation , zoology , ecology , fish <actinopterygii>
. Fifty each of F 2 ‐generation gold ( gg ), bronze ( Gg ), and black ( GG ) Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters) and either zero, four or eight largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides , (Lacepède) were stocked in 20‐m 2 concrete tanks. After 7 days, water in all tanks was drained, and fish in each tank were censused. Largemouth bass ate 18% of the tilapia in the four‐bass treatment (1 tilapia/bass/day) and 60% of the tilapia in the eight‐bass treatment (1·6 tilapia/bass/day); the difference was significant (P=0–05). In the four‐bass treatment there was a greater observed mean predation rate on gold than that on black or on bronze tilapia, but the difference was not significant: largemouth bass ate 25% of the gold tilapia, 16% of the bronze tilapia, and 13% of the black tilapia. In the eight‐bass treatment, predation on the gold tilapia was significantly greater than that on both bronze (P=0·05) and on black (P=0·06) tilapia; predation on bronze and black tilapia was similar: largemouth bass ate 80% of the gold tilapia, 48% of the bronze tilapia, and 51% of the black tilapia. Overall average total predation (both treatments combined) on gold tilapia was significantly (P=0·06) greater than that on both bronze and on black tilapia, which did not differ: largemouth bass ate 52% of the gold tilapia, 32% of the bronze tilapia, and 32% of the black tilapia. The increased vulnerability of gold tilapia to predation was a negative pleiotropic effect of the gg genotype.