Work

Feeding Habit of Pond Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus nipponensis) and Its Impact on the Zooplankton Community in Lake Suwa, Japan

Year: 2005

Type: article

Abstract: We examined the feeding habit of pond smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus nipponesis) and its impact on the zooplankton community in Lake Suwa, Japan, from May to December 2001. Stomach contents were analyzed, and prey importance and the prey selectivity index were estimated from the stomach contents of fish and prey density in the lake. Results showed that herbivorous zooplankters the cladoceran Bosmina fatalis and the calanoid copepod Eodiaptomus jaonicus were the most important prey items, accounting for about 80% of the total prey biomass in the diet of the pond smelt. However, the selectivity index suggested that pond smelt preferred the predacious cladoceran Leptodora kindtii and the cyclopoid copepod Mesocyclops sp. In the lake, predation impact by pond smelt on the herbivorous zooplankton was not apparent, but the population dynamics of the large invertebrate predators L. kindtii and Mesocyclops sp. seemed to be affected by pond smelt by selective predation.

Source: Journal of Freshwater Ecology

DOI: 10.1080/02705060.2005.9664946

Authors: Kwang-Hyeon Chang, Takayuki Hanazato, Go Ueshima, Hideshige Tahara

Institutions: Shinshu University, Nagano Prefectural Fisheries Experimental Station

Language: English

Topic: Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics

Subfield: Environmental Chemistry

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life below water

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science