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Feeding habits and predator‐prey size relationships of mandarin fish S iniperca chuatsi ( B asilewsky) in a shallow lake, central C hina
Author(s) -
Li W.,
Zhang T.,
Ye S.,
Liu J.,
Li Z.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of applied ichthyology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1439-0426
pISSN - 0175-8659
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0426.2012.02044.x
Subject(s) - crucian carp , biology , predation , predator , mandarin chinese , fish <actinopterygii> , cyprinidae , carassius auratus , common carp , fishery , carp , zoology , ecology , cyprinus , linguistics , philosophy
Summary The diet and predator‐prey size relationships of mandarin fish S iniperca chuatsi ( B asilewsky) in L ake X iaosihai along the middle reach of the Y angtze R iver were studied through stomach content analysis. A total of 401 specimens (91–539 mm total length) were collected in 2007. The diet was dominated by topmouth gudgeon P seudorasbora parva , sharpbelly H emiculter leucisculus , redfin culter C ultrichthys erythropterus , and crucian carp C arassius auratus , with significant seasonal and ontogenetic differences. Ontogenetic variation in diet was apparent that larger prey items such as crucian carp and redfin culter became more common, while smaller prey such as topmouth gudgeon, bitterlings and shrimps gradually declined in the larger fish. Mandarin fish total length ( TL ) was strongly related to mouth gape width ( GW ) and gape height ( GH ). Mandarin fish TL and prey fish TL as well as mandarin fish GW and prey fish body depth ( BD ) were positively and linearly related for sharpbelly, redfin culter and crucian carp. Strong size selectivity for topmouth gudgeon, sharpbelly and redfin culter as prey indicated that the piscivorous mandarin fish can have potential impact on the population size structure of the three prey fish.