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Seasonal and diel variations in diet of the young stages of the fish Limnothrissa miodon in Lake Kivu, Eastern Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2004

M. Isumbisho
Affiliation:
UER Applied Hydrobiology, Institut Supérieur Pédagogique (ISP), Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo
M. Kaningini
Affiliation:
UER Applied Hydrobiology, Institut Supérieur Pédagogique (ISP), Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo
J.-P. Descy
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology, URBO, Department of Biology, University of Namur, Belgium
E. Baras
Affiliation:
Ethology and Animal Psychology, Aquaculture Research and Education Centre, Department of Life Sciences, University of Liège, Belgium

Abstract

The diets of larvae and juveniles (cut-off size: 20 mm) of Limnothrissa miodon (Boulenger) were studied at 2-h intervals during four 24-h cycles (two during the rainy and two during the dry season) in the Bukavu Basin, Lake Kivu. Larvae and juveniles are both diurnal feeders, and they both feed essentially on copepods, which are the most abundant prey in littoral areas, but they show a marked preference for larger organisms (cladocerans), when available. This indicates a rather intense resource sharing, and probable competition between life stages, which is partly solved through spatial behaviour and segregation. During the dry season, when food resources are scarcer, larvae and juveniles make slightly offset inshore migrations during the day, so that they feed at different places, on copepods of different sizes. Because diel migrations are size-structured, it is suggested that cannibalistic pressure (by adults over juveniles, and by juveniles over larvae) may also be a driving factor for these migrations. Plankton samples revealed that there were few cladocerans, while copepods were abundant and their size was similar to that prior to the introduction of L. miodon in Lake Kivu, thereby suggesting that some form of dynamic equilibrium has been reached in the food web.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

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