Análise da composição da dieta de seis espécies de peixes coexistentes em um reservatório tropical (Reservatório de Ribeirão das Lajes, Piraí-RJ)

Abstract

The present study analyzed the digestive contents of 221 individuals of six fish species, from Ribeirão das Lajes reservoir (Piraí-RJ). There were 44 specimens of Loricariichthys castaneus, 56 Parauchenipterus striatulus, 46 Metynnis maculatus, 40 Astyanax bimaculatus, 31 Astyanax parahybae and 4 Rhamdia quelen. The aim was to establish their diets, through the use of alimentary importance index (IAi), to verify the existence of differences in their feeding between different seasons of the year, and their trophic relationships to their environment. There were no great alterations to the diets of the analyzed species between the seasons of the year. All species used similar food resources, which could be divided into two groups: one composed of species with omnivorous habits with tendencies to insectivory and which apply allochthonous resources in their diets, formed by A. bimaculatus, A. parahybae e P. striatulus and another one with L. castaneus, R. quelen e M. maculatus that presented larger amplitudes of ingested items, which many items were associated with the substratum and a few to the water column. There is an alimentary overlap between the omnivorous species, however the great availability of food resources, capable of being exploited by the fishes in this reservoir, probably diminishes competition for food. Moreover the species also exploited different kinds of secondary food items.