FOOD AND FEEDING HABITS OF THE STRAIGHTFIN BARB BARBUS PALUDINOSUS (PETERS, 1852) (PISCES: CYPRINIDAE) IN LAKE ZIWAY, ETHIOPIA
Abstract
The feeding habits of the straightfin barb Barbus paludinosus was studied in Lake Ziway, Ethiopia, from 504 gut samples collected from
April to May (dry months) and July to August (wet months) of the year 2011. Gut contents were analyzed using the frequency of occurrence and
volumetric analysis methods. Insects and detritus were the dominant food items and they occurred in 86.3% and 93.5%, and constituted 47.3% and
38.0%, of the total volume of food items, respectively. Macrophytes, phytoplankton, zooplankton and ostracods occurred in 36.1%, 40.3%, 32.7%
and 15.5% of fish guts and volumetrically they constituted 4.8%, 4.7%, 3.9% and 1.3% of the food items, respectively. Insects, detritus and zooplankton were important food categories in the dry season while detritus, insects and phytoplankton dominated in the wet season. Insects were the dominant food items in all size classes followed by detritus. The proportion of macrophytes increased with size of fish while the importance of detritus and zooplankton declined with fish size. Based on these results, it was concluded that B. paludinosus in Lake Ziway has an omnivorous habit.
Downloads
References
Appelberg, M., Berger, H.M., Hesthagen, T., Kleiven, E., Kurkilahti, M., Raitaniemi, J. and Rask, M. (1995). Development and intercalibration of methods in Nordic freshwater fish monitoring. Water Air Soil Poll. 85: 401-406.
Bourn, D.M. (1973). The feeding of three commercially important fish species in Lake Chilwa, Malawi. Afr. J. Trop. Hydrobiol. Fish. 3: 135-145.
Bowen, S.H. (1983). Quantitative description of the diet. In: Fisheries Techniques, pp. 325-336 (Nielson, L.A. and Johnson, D. L., eds.). Bethesda, Maryland.
Brummett, R.E. and Katambalika, K. (1996). Protocols for the development of indigenous species: Polyculture of indigenous species under Malawian smallholder conditions. Aquat. Res. 27(4): 225-233.
Cambray, J.A. (1983). The feeding habits of minnows of the genus Barbus (Pisces, Cyprinidae) in Africa, with special reference to Barbus anoplus Weber. J. Limnol.Soc. S. Afr. 9(1): 12-22.
Cockson, A. and Bourn, D. (1973). Protease and amylase in the digestive tract of Barbus paludinosus. Hydrobiologia 43: 357-363.
Dawit Garoma, Asefa Admassie and Fekadu Beyene (2013). Analysis of the significance of fishing on food security status of rural households around Lakes Ziway and Langano in Ethiopia. J. Econ. Sust. Develop. 4(18): 1-10.
Demeke Admassu and Elias Dadebo (1997). Diet composition, length-weight relationship and condition factor of Barbus species (Rüppell, 1836) (Pisces: Cyprinidae) in Lake Awassa, Ethiopia. SINET: Ethiop. J. Sci. 20: 13-30.
De Vos, L. and Thys van den Audenaerde, E.F.E. (1990). Petits Barbus (Pisces:Cyprinidae) du Ruwanda. Rev. Hydrobiol. Trop. 23(2): 141-159.
Elias Dadebo (2000). Reproductive biology and feeding habits of the catfish Clarias gariepinus Burchell (Pisces: Clariidae) in Lake Awassa, Ethiopia. SINET: Ethiop. J. Sci. 23: 231-246.
Elias Dadebo, Agumas Tesfahun and Yosef Teklegiorgis (2013). Food and feeding habits of the African big barb Labeobarbus intermedius (Rüppell, 1836) (Pisces:Cyprinidae) in Lake Koka, Ethiopia. E3. J. Agric. Dev. 3(4): 49-58.
More inside the PDF
