New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Prey selection and dietary overlap of shortfinned (Anguilla australis) and longfinned (A. dieffenbachii) eels during summer in the Horokiwi Stream, New Zealand

P. M. Sagar
E. Graynoth
G. J. Glova

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric
Research Limited
P.O. Box 8602
Christchurch, New Zealand
email: psagar@niwa.co.nz

Abstract  Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected and the diets of shortfinned eels (Anguilla australis) and longfinned eels (Anguilla dieffenbachii) inhabiting a small coastal New Zealand stream were examined to investigate intraspecific and interspecific trophic partitioning and prey selection. Our results showed intraspecific segregation of preferred prey among three size classes of juvenile shortfinned eels, but there was significant overlap between different size classes of longfinned eels. All size classes of both species of eel fed nocturnally on similar prey, and so there was no indication of temporal or trophic segregation. Therefore, habitat separation is assumed to be the main mechanism to reduce interspecific competition in these two co-occurring species of eels.

Keywords  diel feeding; competition; trophic partitioning; Anguillidae

M04152; Online publication date 17 June 2005 Received 19 November 2004; accepted 23 February 2005
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2005, Vol. 39: 931-939
0028-8330/05/3904-0931 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005

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