Foods of Channel Catfish During Flooding of the Tombigbee River, Mississippi

Food items of 29 channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) collected during flooding of the Tombigbee River, Mississippi were almost exclusively composed of insects although other arthropods and in 1 case 2 rodents were eaten Terrestrial insects composed 84.7%, by weight, of the food eaten by catfish taken during floods compared to 1.2%, by weight, of the stomach contents of 15 catfish taken during normal flow conditions. Members of the orders Rodentia, Oligochaeta, Orthoptera and Trichoptera were the dominant foods, by weight, during flood conditions, contributing 64.4,6.1,6.0 and 5.8%, respectively. The stomach contents, by weight, of the catfish taken during normal flow were composed mainly of fish (51.0%), trichopterans (17.4%) and crayfish (12.9%).

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Starting page
598
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606
ID
33946