The diet of predatory fish in drinking water reservoirs – how can they contribute to biomanipulation efforts?

Efforts to positively influence ecological processes and water quality by manipulating the fish community (biomanipulation) are of particular importance in drinking water reservoirs. One of the principle measures employed is to increase the abundance of predatory fish species as a means of reducing...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inFolia zoologica (Brno) Vol. 68; no. 4; pp. 215 - 224
Main Authors Adámek, Zdeněk, Mikl, Libor, Šlapanský, Luděk, Jurajda, Pavel, Halačka, Karel
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Praha Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic 02.10.2019
Institute of Vertebrate Biology ASCR
Institute of Vertebrate Biology
Subjects
Biomanipulation
Cannibalism
Catfish
Diet
Drinking water
Esox lucius
Fish
Fishes
Food habits
Food intake
Leuciscus aspius
Perca fluviatilis
Predation
Predation (Biology)
Prey
Reservoirs
Rivers
Sander lucioperca
Silurus glanis
Species
Water
Water quality
Czech Republic
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Efforts to positively influence ecological processes and water quality by manipulating the fish community (biomanipulation) are of particular importance in drinking water reservoirs. One of the principle measures employed is to increase the abundance of predatory fish species as a means of reducing planktonophagous and benthophagous cyprinids. However, there is little information available on the effectiveness of different predatory fish in biomanipulation exercises. We examined the diet of the five dominant predatory species (pike Esox lucius, zander Sander lucioperca, asp Leuciscus aspius, European catfish Silurus glanis, and perch Perca fluviatilis) in five representative reservoirs in the Morava River drainage basin (Czech Republic). Fish prey made up 75 % of total food intake, with undesirable small cyprinids dominant by biomass (40 %). European catfish and asp were not taken as prey and showed no sign of cannibalism. On the other hand, predation on conspecific predatory species (including cannibalism) was relatively high in perch, pike and zander, thereby reducing their net benefit overall. This little-considered aspect of predatory feeding needs to be taken into consideration in future biomanipulation stocking strategies.
ISSN:0139-7893
1573-1189
DOI:10.25225/fozo.014.2019