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Food of juvenile American shad,Alosa sapidissima, juvenile blueback herring,Alosa aestivalis, and pumpkinseed,Lepomis gibbosus, in the Connecticut River below Holyoke Dam, Massachusetts

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Abstract

Despite·a paucity of available prey, little feeding competition occurred between juvenile American shad,Alosa sapidissima, juvenile blueback herring,Alosa aestivalis, and pumpkinseed,Lepomis gibbosus, in the Connecticut River below Holyoke Dam. Pumpkinseed differed from clupeids in pronounced selection for chironomid larvae, and bottom feeding. Feeding conflicts between the twoAlosa species were reduced by: 1) more opportunistic feeding by shad; 2) differential selection for cladoceran prey; 3) higher utilization of copepods by herring.

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Contribution No. 61 of the Massachusetts Cooperative Fishery Research Unit jointly supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and the University of Massachusetts.

Based on a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science from the University of Massachusetts.

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Domermuth, R.B., Reed, R.J. Food of juvenile American shad,Alosa sapidissima, juvenile blueback herring,Alosa aestivalis, and pumpkinseed,Lepomis gibbosus, in the Connecticut River below Holyoke Dam, Massachusetts. Estuaries 3, 65–68 (1980). https://doi.org/10.2307/1351936

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