Diet and growth of the endemic Neretva chub, Squalius svallize from the Neretva river area, Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Published in: Folia zoologica (Brno) Vol. 59; no. 1; pp. 51 - 56
• Main Authors: Ivanković, Predrag, Treer, Tomislav, Piria, Marina, Knezović, Zrinka
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Praha Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic 01.03.2010; Institute of Vertebrate Biology
• Subjects: Adriatic dace; condition; Croatia; Diet; Growth rate; nutrition; Winter
• ISSN: 0139-7893; 1573-1189
• DOI: 10.25225/fozo.v59.i1.a8.2010

The Neretva chub, Squalius svallize is an endemic species of the Adriatic basin of the southeastern Europe. Altogether, 60 specimens were caught by gill nets from the Neretva river area, the oldest being seven years old. The most dominant item in the diet of S. svallize during winter season were larvae of Trichoptera and Diptera. Diptera larvae were also dominant during spring and summer. In autumn period the largest amount in stomach content were Trichoptera larvae and Gastropoda. Plant material was present in stomach content but not dominant food item. The von Bertalanffy formula, counted from the back calculated growth in total length, appeared to be: Lt= 35.3 (1-e -0.15 (t+1.40)). The phiprime of Neretva chub (ln base) is Φ'=5.23. The length-weight relationship, including the fish from the entire growing period, demonstrated positive allometric growth with a b-value of 3.47. The average value for condition factor was CF = 0.98±0.14 (min = 0.76; max = 1.29).