Diet overlap among size classes of Colorado River cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus) in a high-elevation mountain stream

Abstract

We examined the taxonomic composition, abundance, and size of food items consumed by young-of-year, juvenile, and adult Colorado River cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus) in order to determine the degree of diet overlap occurring in a relatively unproductive, high-elevation, mountain stream. Overall, we identified 49 Families of insects representing nine Orders, and 4 other Classes of organisms in the diets of the trout sampled and saw no evidence of piscivory. Each size class of fish consumed significantly different taxa and significantly different sizes of food items. However, despite these differences, the proportional similarity index (PSI) indicated that there was considerable overlap in taxa and sizes of organisms consumed by the three size classes. The greatest overlap occurred between young-of-year and juveniles, and between juveniles and adults. Both the relatively high proportion of small items in the adult diet and the slow growth rate of adults in these streams indicate that food may be limiting for adults and that intraspecific competition between adults and smaller size classes may be high.