Influence of diet on growth, food retention time, and gill ventilation rate of nymphs of Cloeon sp. (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae)

Abstract

Early instar nymphs of the mayfly, Cloeon sp. were kept on an algal or a detrital diet at 20 ± 1 °C in the laboratory. A control group was not given any food. Nymphs kept on algae showed significantly (P = 0.001) higher growth both in terms of length and biomass than for those kept on detritus. None of the nymphs given algae or detritus died during the experiment, and 40 per cent of those fed algae and 20 per cent fed detritus reached maturity by the termination of the experiment. Food retention time as well as gill ventilation rate of nymphs feeding on algae were significantly (P = 0.001) higher than those feeding on detritus. It is probable that these two factors largely enabled the nymphs to survive as well as to grow and reach maturity, though relatively slowly, solely on a detrital diet. However, algae was clearly shown to be a superior food resource for Cloeon sp. nymphs.