Ontogenetic diet shifts and diet overlap among three closely related neotropical armoured catfishes

Abstract

Analysis of stomach contents of larvae, juveniles and adults of three closely related armoured catfishes in coastal plain swamps of Suriname, South America, revealed major ontogenetic diet shifts. Larvae of Hoplosternum littorale, H. thoracatum and Callichthys callichthys showed a restricted diet of rotifers and microcrustacea. Diets of juveniles and adults were more diverse, but large volumes of microcrustacea, aquatic insect larvae and detritus were always present. In all three species diet overlap was especially low between larvae and adults. The proportion of detritus in the stomach was positively related to fish size, which probably reflected the inability of larger size classes to separate effectively benthic invertebrate prey from bottom substrata, and not a specialization towards detritivory. Adults showed only minor seasonality in diet composition, and no effect of season on diet breadth. Interspecific diet overlap among larvae, juveniles and adults did not differ significantly from 1 (complete overlap). Lack of food partitioning was probably related to a similar morphology of the three catfishes. Intraspecific between‐size class diet overlap was considerably lower than interspecific within‐size class overlap. It is suggested that large interspecific diet overlap occurred because food was not limiting the populations of these catfish. However, the nest habitats of the three species differed.