Diet of Bryconamericus iheringii (Ostariophysi: Characidae) from streams of Tibagi river basin, Parana State - DOI: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v28i1.1060

Abstract

Individuals of Bryconamericus iheringii (Boulenger, 1887), collected in the streams of Cambé, Taquari, Ãgua da Floresta and Baroré, which belong to the Tibagi river basin (Parana Sate, Brazil), were analyzed for the purpose of diet study. The collection procedures were standardized in every stream. The stomach contents of the individuals were analyzed qualitative and quantitatively. The food items consumed by the species varied in number, and the main food item consumed differed in each stream. Thus, it was found: vegetable remains and debris, in Cambé; debris, in Taquari; filamentous algae and vegetable remains, in the Ãgua da Floresta; and debris and remains of insects, in Baroré stream. The behavior shift from generalist to specialist strategy as well as the use of detritus as the main food, which can only be found in the river bottom, can indicate that stretches of streams with slower and deeper waters are not preferred by B. iheringii, as neither they are for some groups of aquatic insects which are used as food resource by this fish species