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Body Size, Diet and Growth of Landlocked Brown Trout, Salmo trutta, in the Subarctic River Laxá, North-East Iceland

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Abstract

Studies on diet preferences of stream-dwelling salmonids have mostly been limited to a relatively small range in body size. This study examined the influence of salmonid body size on prey size and diet composition, and its consequences for growth, in landlocked stream-resident brown trout, Salmo trutta (2.5–61.3 cm) in the Laxá River, N-E Iceland. The most common prey of the 1622 trout sampled, were blackflies, Simulium vittatum, chironomid midges and the freshwater snail, Lymnaea peregra, which represented 56.3%, 21.8%, 10.8% of the stomach content volume, respectively. In general, the Laxá trout showed a consistent, but moderate, shift towards larger prey with increased body size. The relatively stable growth and the large body size attained were probably due to the high production of small benthic invertebrates and only secondarily to the ontogenetic shift towards larger prey.

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  1. Stefán Ó. Steingrímsson

    Present address: Department of Biology, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West, Montréal, Québec, H3G 1M8, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Iceland, Grensásvegur 12, IS-108, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Stefán Ó. Steingrímsson & Gísli M. Gíslason

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  1. Stefán Ó. Steingrímsson
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  2. Gísli M. Gíslason
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Steingrímsson, S.Ó., Gíslason, G.M. Body Size, Diet and Growth of Landlocked Brown Trout, Salmo trutta, in the Subarctic River Laxá, North-East Iceland. Environmental Biology of Fishes 63, 417–426 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014976612970

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