Zoobenthos are minor dietary components of small omnivorous fishes in a shallow eutrophic lake
Natsuru Yasuno A E , Yuki Chiba A , Yasufumi Fujimoto B , Kentaro Shindo B , Tetsuo Shimada B , Shuichi Shikano C and Eisuke Kikuchi D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8577, Japan.
B Miyagi Prefectural Izunuma-Uchinuma Environmental Foundation 17-2 Shikimi, Wakayanagi, Kurihara, Miyagi, 989-5504, Japan.
C Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University 41 Kawauchi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8576, Japan.
D Environmental Education Center, Miyagi University of Education 149 Aramaki Aza Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-0845, Japan.
E Corresponding author. Present address: Sendai City Hall, 3-7-1 Kokubun-cho, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-0803, Japan. Email: plumosussia@yahoo.co.jp
Marine and Freshwater Research 67(10) 1562-1568 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF15156
Submitted: 1 November 2014 Accepted: 22 June 2015 Published: 30 September 2015
Abstract
We examined whether small omnivorous fishes (smaller than ~100 mm long) integrate littoral, pelagic and benthic pathways in a shallow, eutrophic lake (Lake Izunuma, Japan). The surface of the lake was covered by a dense vegetation of floating-leaved macrophytes, and small species dominated the icthyofauna. We determined the δ13C and δ15N ratios of five dominant species of small omnivorous fishes. Using a stable isotope analysis in the R mixing model, we determined the possible contribution of three potential food sources (epiphytic algae, zooplankton and zoobenthos (larval chironomids)) to omnivorous fish tissue compositions. Four omnivorous fishes (Gnathopogon elongatus elongatus, Pseudorasbora parva, Biwia zezera and Tridentiger obscurus) subsisted largely on epiphytic algae and zooplankton, whereas zoobenthos contributed little to their diets. Acheilognathus rhombeus subsisted mostly on epiphytic algae. Thus, in this shallow, eutrophic lake, omnivorous fishes incorporated both littoral and pelagic production into the food web, but rarely benthic production. The dominant benthic chironomid larvae often burrow several centimetres into the sediment, and the low dietary contribution of zoobenthos to small fishes may be due to inefficiency at foraging on buried benthos associated with fish body size.
Additional keywords: chironomid, cyprinid, δ13C and δ15N, isotope mixing model, methane-oxidising bacteria.
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