New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Food partitioning by small fish in a coastal New Zealand stream
P. M. SAGAR
G. J. GLOVA
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric
Research Ltd
P. O. Box 8602
Christchurch, New Zealand
Abstract The diets and feeding periodicities of six small
fish species were investigated in a New Zealand coastal stream over the diel
period of 4 to 5 March 1993. Aquatic insect larvae dominated the diets of all
fish except common bully,
Gobiomorphus cotidianus, and longfinned eel,
Anguilla dieffenbachii, which had a large proportion of ostracods in
their diets. Dietary overlap was greatest between species pairs which were
associated in the same microhabitats:
A. dieffenbachii and bluegilled
bully,
G. hubbsi; torrentfish,
Cheimarrichthys fosteri, and
G. hubbsi; and
G. cotidianus and upland bully,
G.
breviceps. Similar patterns in feeding periodicities existed for some of
the species with associated diets;
A. dieffenbachii and
C.
fosteri were nocturnal feeders, whereas
G. hubbsi fed during
daylight. Both
G. cotidianus and
G. breviceps were also diurnal
feeders. In part, the results supported the hypothesis that species with
temporal segregation of feeding are likely to have more similar dietary
compositions, whereas those feeding at the same time are likely to show a
greater degree of prey selectivity.
Keywords Native fish, diet, feeding periodicity, prey
preferences, food partitioning
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1994: Vol. 28:
429-436
0028-8330/94/2804-0429 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1994
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (574K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
This year's abstracts |
Journal home page |
All abstracts |
Publishing home page
