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The Food of the Burbot Lota Lota Maculosa (LeSueur) in Lake Erie
Author(s) -
Clemens Howard P.
Publication year - 1951
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1950)80[56:tfotbl]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - perch , fishery , biology , predation , invertebrate , fish <actinopterygii> , zoology , ecology
This study includes results of stomach examinations of 5,253 burbot captured near various ports along the north shore of Lake Erie from May, 1946, to May, 1947. Variations in major food items in relation to method of capture, season, locality, and the length of the burbot are examined. The major food items were evaluated by volume, number of items consumed, and the number of stomachs containing each item. Each criterion of abundance assisted in the determination of the role of the burbot in the food relationship of fish in the lake. Fish and invertebrates, largely Percidae and crustaceans, constituted the major part of the burbotˈs diet. Until its third year of life, the burbot feeds extensively on invertebrates, but from its third to fifth years, fish become the predominant food. Larger burbot had more food in their stomachs than did the smaller burbot and they consumed larger fish rather than larger numbers of fish. More food was found in the stomachs in the winter than in the summer and the percentage of empty stomachs was inversely related to the amount of food consumed each month. This condition may reflect the lower rate of digestion during the winter. Stomachs of burbot caught in pound nets contained more fish and fewer invertebrates than those caught in gill nets. The burbot preyed extensively on such commercial fish as the yellow perch and pikeperch and to a lesser extent on the white bass. Coregonids were rare in the diet, but large quantities of their eggs were consumed. Of the commercially important coarse fish, 1‐ and 2‐year‐old sheepshead were common in the stomachs. Through consumption of troutperch, sculpins, logperch, and shiners, the burbot competed for food with carnivorous species, especially the pikeperch. Competition for food between the immature burbot and the yellow perch, pikeperch, sheepshead, and other invertebrate‐consuming species was also evident. The most important invertebrates in the diet were gammarids, asellids, mysids, mayflies, and crayfish.