Applicability of gill raker filtrates and foregut contents in the diet assessment of filter-feeding Asian carps

作者：Vital Zoltan^*; Specziar Andras; Mozsar Attila; Takacs Peter; Borics Gabor; Goergenyi Judit; G Toth Laszlo; Nagy Sandor Alex; Boros Gergely

来源：Fundamental and Applied Limnology, 2015, 187(1): 79-86.

DOI：10.1127/fal/2015/0698

• bighead carp
• diet assessment
• digestion
• phytoplankton
• silver carp
• zooplankton

Reliable estimation of the diet composition of filter-feeding Asian carps is essential to evaluate their effects on ecosystem functioning. In previous studies, the diet composition of these fishes was primarily determined based on the analysis of foregut contents. To assess the reliability of foregut content analysis in diet assessments, these were compared with gill raker filtrate analyses. Gill raker filtrates were found to be more reliable than foregut contents for determining food composition due to higher amounts of sample, significantly higher numbers of identifiable taxa (including both phytoplankton and zooplankton), and considerably higher numbers of intact planktonic individuals. The present findings indicate that diet composition analyses based on foregut samples alone are likely to underestimate the number of individuals and the biomass of planktonic species which are less resistant to digestive processes.

• 出版日期2015-9