Abstract
The stomach contents of 459 rod‐caught brown trout, Salmo trutta L., collected over a period of 7 years from Loch Dee, an acid water in south west Scotland, were identified. The relative importance of each item was assessed volumetrically. The range of taxa available to the fish was limited because of the loch’s acidity (annual pH means 5.1–5.6) but up to 25 taxa were recorded in the stomachs. Ephemeroptera nymphs, Trichoptera pupae and terrestrial insects formed the greatest bulk, but chironomid larvae and pupae were found in almost half the stomachs. Among the zooplankton, Bythotrephes longimanus was the most abundant species in the samples despite its scarcity (less than 1% of animals in net samples). Despite the adverse conditions of water chemistry and limited range of food, the loch is able to support a regular trout fishery.
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