Comparison of Food Habits of Brook Trout and Blacknose Dace in an East Tennessee Stream

Food habits of wild and hatchery-reared brook trout stocked in a stream environment were compared to those of blacknose dace within the same stream. Trout utilized aquatic adult insects (38.9%), terrestrial insects (19.5% ), and immature dipterans (14.2%) as their major food sources while dace consumed immature Trichoptera (27.0%) and Diptera (23.0%) as their major food items. A comparison of food habits suggested that some inter-specific competition might have been involved. Brook trout stomachs contained significantly more organisms than dace stomachs; however, no difference was found in mean volume of organisms in either.