Feeding of carp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus 1758) in Lobos shallow lake, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

The carp (Cyprinus carpio) is an exotic fish that currently inhabits most of the Pampasic shallow lakes. A better knowledge of its trophic spectrum and of the relative composition of its diet may represent a very useful information to understand its biology, as well as the ecological niche occupied by its populations in these environments. In this work the food habits of the carp were studied in Lobos shallow lake, from the analysis of 75 digestive tracts of fish with a mean standard length of 409.7 mm, captured between March and August of 1994. Food items were counted and classified taxonomically up to the family level. Values for several indexes were calculated with this information, and the seasonal pattern of variation of the digestive contents was analyzed using Correspondence Analysis. The species showed a wide trophic spectrum. The main food items, in order of importance were vegetable fragments, Ciclopoidea, Chidoridae, Chironomidae, Bosminidae, Harpacticoidae and seeds. The second axis of the ordination showed the existence of seasonality in the diet, which could be related to the availability of organisms in the environment. The abundance of zooplanktonic organisms in the diet coincides with that found in fishes from Asian and European shallow lakes, and it established the major difference with several deep lakes of the world, where the carp is exclusively bottom-feeder. This could be due to the opportunistic character and to the trophic plasticity of this species, which would take advantage of the offer of a particularly abundant food resource in the Pampasic shallow lakes.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Colautti, Darío C., Remes Lenicov, Mauricio
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	spa
Published:	Asociación Argentina de Ecología 2001
Online Access:	https://ojs.ecologiaaustral.com.ar/index.php/Ecologia_Austral/article/view/1571
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