Food composition and zooplankton selection by smelts, Osmerus eperlanus L., in Lake Tyrifjorden, Norway

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Erik Garnås

Abstract

Stomach analyses were carried out on 80 - 160 mm long smelts sampled monthly from May 1976 to September 1977. The amount of food was lower from February to April than during the rest of the year. Zooplankton dominated the smelts' food from July to February, while zoobenthic insect larvae and nymphs were more important from March to June. Cladocerans were prefered to copepods during most of the year. From July to April cladocerans made up from 30 to 95% of the diet, while 10 to 60% of the smelts' food in spring and summer consisted of copepods. Benthic copepods occurred in the stomachs almost troughout the year. Daphnia galeata and Bosmina longispina were the most important species in the smelts' diet and they were positively selected, together with Leptodora kindti, Bythotrephes longimanus and Heterocope appendiculata. The most common copepods in the zooplankton, Eudiaptomus gracilis, was negatively selected by the smelts.

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How to Cite
Garnås, E. (1983). Food composition and zooplankton selection by smelts, Osmerus eperlanus L., in Lake Tyrifjorden, Norway. Fauna Norvegica, 4, 21-28. https://doi.org/10.5324/fn.v4i0.6131
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