FEEDING ECOLOGY OF THE GENUS AUSTRALOHEROS (TELEOSTEI: CICHLIDAE: CICHLINAE) BASED ON EXAMINED SPECIMENS AND LITERATURE INFORMATION
Parole chiave:
ecology, food analysis, gut content, Heroini, South American cichlids.Abstract
The objective of this paper was to study the diet of six species populations of the genus Australoheros, comparing the obtained results with information present in the literature. For this, two values related to the diet were calculated for the populations analyzed: frequency of occurrence and the proportion in which food category contributed to the diet of each species. The obtained results demonstrated that the species of Australoheros usually have a generalist and opportunist feeding habit, showing a preference for aquatic arthropods. It was not possible to affirm any alimentary preference for A. scitulus, since the gut and intestine content data were based only on radiographed specimens, revealing the presence of Gastropoda in their guts and intestines. It is just an evidence of the presence of Gastropoda in its diet, but it is not an evidence of a feed preference for Gastropoda. Comparing the gut and intestine contents of the six populations of Australoheros herein analysed with the diet of A. acaroides, it was concluded that only Cladocera and Diptera Larvae can be considered similar items of the feeding habit. In addition, in the present study, it was possible to observe the presence of some fishes that are characteristic from moderate salty water, in the gut and intestine content of a population of A. macaensis occurring in the Carapebus lagoon system. Thus, it could be an evidence of some degree of tolerance of this species for moderate salty water. However, more studies about the degree of the salt in the water are needed to corroborate this hypothesis of tolerance.Downloads
Riferimenti bibliografici
BISTONI, M.A. & A.C. HUED. 2002. Patterns of Fish species Richness in rivers of the central region of Argentina. Brazilian Journal of Biology, 62 (4b): 753–764.
CASCIOTTA, J.R., ALMIRÓN, A.E. & S.E. GÓMEZ. 2006. A new species of Australoheros (Teleostei: Perciformes: Cichlidae) from the río Iguazú basin, Argentina. Zoologische Abhandlungen, 55: 77–83.
CASCIOTTA, J.R., GÓMEZ, S.E. & TORESANI, N.L. 1995. “Cichlasoma” tembe, a new cichlid species from the rio Paraná basin, Argentina (Osteichthyes: Labroidei). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 6: 193–200.
COSTA, W.J.E.M. 1997. Feeding habits of a fish community in a tropical coastal stream, rio Mato Grosso, Brazil. Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment, 22 (3): 145–153.
HARTZ, S. M., VERANI, J. R. & G. BARBIERI. 2000. Partilha de recursos entre espécies de ciclídeos (Teleostei, Perciformes) em uma lagoa do litoral norte do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Biociências, 8: 33-58.
LATINI, A.O. & M. PETRERE JR. 2004. Reduction of a native fish fauna by alien species: an example from Brazilian freshwater tropical lakes. Fisheries Management and Ecology, 11: 71–79.
OTTONI, F.P. .2010. Australoheros capixaba, a new species of Australoheros from south-eastern Brazil (Labroidei: Cichlidae: Cichlasomatinae). Vertebrate Zoology, 60 (1): 19–25.
OTTONI, F .P. 2012. Three new species of Australoheros from Southeastern Brazil, with taxonomic notes on Chromys oblonga, Heros autochton and H. jenynsii (Teleostei: Labroidei: Cichlidae). Vertebrate Zoology, 62(1): 83–96.
OTTONI, F .P. 2013A. Live colouration of three Australoheros species from the rio Paraíba do Sul basin, southeastern Brazil (Teleostei: Labroidei: Cichlidae). Vertebrate Zoology, 63(2): 161–169.
OTTONI, F .P. 2013B. Australoheros sanguineus sp. n. – a new cichlid species
from the rio Cubatão basin, southern Brazil (Cichlidae: Heroini). Vertebrate Zoology, 63(1): 9–11.
OTTONI, F.P., LEZAMA, A.Q., TRIQUES, M.L., FRAGOSO-MOURA, E.N.LUCAS, C.C.T. & BARBOSA, F.A.R. 2011. Australoheros perdi,new species (Teleostei: Labroidei: Cichlidae) from the lacustrine region of the Doce River Valley, southeastern Brazil,with biological informations. Vertebrate Zoology, 61(1): 137 – 145.
OTTONI, F.P.; OYAKAWA O.T. & W. J.E.M. COSTA. 2008. A new species of the genus Australoheros from the rio Ribeira do Iguape basin, São Paulo, Brazil (Labroidei: Cichlidae: Cichlasomatinae). Vertebrate Zoology, 58 (1): 75–81.
OTTONI, F.P. & W.J.E.M. COSTA. 2008. Taxonomic revision of the genus Australoheros Rícan & Kullander, 2006 (Teleostei: Cichlidae) with descriptions of nine new species from southeastern Brazil. Vertebrate Zoology, 58 (2): 207–232.
OTTONI, F.P. & M. M., CHEFFE. 2009. A new species of Australoheros from the upper rio das Antas, laguna dos Patos System, southern Brazil (Labroidei, Cichlidae, Cichlasomatinae). Spixiana, 32 (1): 153–159.
RIBEIRO, F.; ORJUELA R.L.; MAGALHÃES, M.F. & M.J. COLLARES-PEREIRA. 2007. Variability in feeding ecology of a South American cichlid: a reason for successful invasion in the mediterranean-type rivers. Ecology of Freshwater Fish, 16: 559–569.
RÍCAN, O. & S. O., KULLANDER. 2003. “Cichlasoma” scitulum: A new species of Cichlid fish from the río de La Plata region in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Copeia, 2003: 794–802.
RÍCAN, O. & S. O., KULLANDER . 2006. Character- and tree-based delimitation of species in the “Cichlasoma” facetum group (Teleostei, Cichlidae) with the description of a new genus. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 44: 136–152.
RÍCAN, O. & S. O. KULLANDER .2008. The Australoheros (Teleostei: Cichlidae) species of the Uruguay and Paraná River drainages. Zootaxa, 1724: 1–51.
SCHINDLER, I.; OTTONI, F. P. & M. M. CHEFFE. 2010. Heros acaroides HENSEL, 1870, a valid species of Australoheros (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Laguna dos Patos system, south Brazil. Vertebrate Zoology, 60(2): 139–146.
YAFE, A.; LOUREIRO, M; SCASSO, F. & F. QUINTANS. 2002. Feeding of two Cichlidae species (Perciformes) in an hypertrophic Urban lake. Iheríngia, série Zoológica, 92 (4): 73–79.
ZARET, T. M. & A.S. RAND. 1971. Competition in Tropical Stream Fishes: Support for the Competitive Exclusion Principle. Ecology, 52 (2): 336–342.
