Food of introduced mosquitofish: ontogenetic diet shift and prey selection

Abstract

The mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki of Lake Banyoles, Catalonia, Spain, were strictly littoral. Their population was dominated by females throughout the year, except in spring when males were more common. Their diet was based on littoral cladocerans, particularly Chydorus sphaericus, Scapholeberis ramneri, Ceriodaphnia reticulata, and Pleuroxus laevis, and nematoceran (basically chironomid) adults. There was a large variety of prey of terrestrial (collembolans, ants) or aquatic neustonic origin (S. ramneri, emerging nematoceran adults), showing the microhabitat of mosquitofish closely linked to the water surface. In contrast to other studies, terrestrial insects were not especially important in summer. In addition to seasonal and between‐site variation, there was an ontogenetic diet shift from microcrustaceans, particularly cladocerans (smallest fish also using diatoms and copepod nauplii) to larger prey, namely nematoceran adults. However, there was an unusual, inverse relationship between fish length and the size of two prey (S. ramneri and the collembolan Sminthurides sp.), paralleling the overall increase in mean prey size.