Synopsis
The diets of four species of Etheostoma (E. spectabile, E. caeruleum, E. flabellare and E. nigrum) were investigated from ten Order 3 streams in the White River drainage of southern Indiana. All species fed mainly on insect larvae, primarily chironomids, ephemeropterans and plecopterans. Dietary proportions, as frequency of occurrence, were compared using cluster analysis based on matrices of values of Spearman rank correlation, Schoener index, Jaccard association, and Pearson's r. Certain species and, in some cases, stream pairs within species clustered closely in all analyses or in three of the four. Most clusters do not show closer intraspecific than interspecific similarity and specific streams had more influence than species in forming the logic of some clusters. It can be concluded that these fishes are opportunistic predators.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References cited
Adamson, S.W. & T.E. Wissing, 1977. Food habits and feeding periodicity of the rainbow, fantail and banded darters in Four Mile Creek. Ohio J. Sci. 77: 164–169.
Bortone, S.A., D. Siegel & J.L. Oglesby. 1981. The use of cluster analysis in comparing multi-source feeding studies. North-east Gulf Sci. 5: 81–86.
Braasch, M.E. & P.E. Smith. 1967. The life history of the slough darter, Etheostoma gracile (Pisces, Percidae). Ill. Nat. Hist. Surv. Biol. Notes 58: 1–12.
Burr, B.M. & L.M. Page. Life history of the cypress darter, Etheostoma proeliare, in Max Creek, Illinois. Ill. Nat. Hist. Surv. Biol. Notes 106: 1–15.
Burr, B.M. & L.M. Page. 1979. The life history of the least darter, Etheostoma microperca, in the Iroquois River. Ill. Nat. Hist. Surv. Biol. Notes 112: 1–15.
Cordes, L.E. & L.M. Page. 1980. Feeding chronology and diet composition of two darters (Percidae) in the Iroquois River System, Illinois. Amer. Midl. Nat. 104: 202–206.
Fahy, W.E. 1954. The life history of the northern greenside darter, Etheostoma blennioides blennioides Rafinesque. J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 70: 139–205.
Flynn, R.B. & R.D. Hoyt. 1979. The life history of the teardrop darter, Etheostoma barbouri Kuehne and Small. Amer. Midl. Nat. 101: 127–141.
Forbes, S.A. 1880. The food of the darters. Amer. Nat. 14: 697–703.
Jaccard, P. 1902. Lois de distribution florale dans la zone alpine. Bull. Soc. Vandoise Sci. Nat. 38: 69–130.
Kuehne, R.A. 1962. A classification of streams, illustrated by fish distribution in an eastern Kentucky creek. Ecology 43: 608–614.
Linton, L.R., R.W. Davies & F.J. Wrona. 1981. Resource utilization indices: an assessment. J. Anim. Ecol. 50: 283–292.
Mantel, N. 1967. The detection of disease clustering and a generalized regression approach. Cancer Research 27: 209–220.
Mathur, D. 1973. Food habits and feeding chronology of the blackbanded darter, Percina nigrofasciata (Agassiz), in Halawakee Creek, Alabama. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 102: 48–55.
Mathur, D. 1977. Food habits and competitive relationships of the bandfin shiner in Halawakee Creek, Alabama. Amer. Midl. Nat. 97: 89–100.
Page, L.M. & D.W. Schemske. 1978. The effects of interspecific competition on the distribution and size of darters of the subgenus Catonotus (Percidae: Etheostoma). Copeia 1978: 406–412.
Pearse, A.S. 1918. The food of the shore fishes of certain Wisconsin lakes. Bull. US. Bur. Fish. 35: 249–292.
Roberts, N.J. & H.E. Winn. 1962. Utilization of the senses in feeding behavior of the johnny darter, Etheostoma nigrum. Copeia 1962: 567–570.
Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea & W.B. Scott. 1980. A list of common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada (4th edition). Amer. Fish. Soc. Special Publ. No. 12, Bethesda. 174 pp.
Scalet, C.G. 1972. Food habits of the orangebelly darter, Etheostoma radiosum cyanorum (Osteichthys: Percidae). Amer. Midl. Nat. 87: 515–522.
Scalet, C.G. 1974. Lack of piscine predation of the orangebelly darter, Etheostoma radiosum cyanorum. Amer. Midl. Nat. 92: 510–512.
Schenk, J.R. & B.G. Whiteside, 1977. Food habits and feeding behavior of the fountain darter, Etheostoma fonticola (Osteichthys: Percidae). Southwest Nat. 21: 487–492.
Schoener, T.W. 1968. The Anolis lizards of Bimini: resource partitioning in a complex fauna. Ecology 49: 704–726.
Siegel, S. 1956. Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York. 312 pp.
Small, J.W. Jr 1975. Energy dynamics of benthic fishes in a small Kentucky stream. Ecology 56: 827–840.
Smart, H.J. & J.H. Gee. 1979. Coexistence and resource partitioning in two species of darters (Percidae), Etheostoma nigrum and Percina maculata. Can. J. Zool. 57: 2061–2071.
Strauss, R.E. 1982. Statistical significance of species clusters in association analysis. Ecology 63: 634–639.
Thomas, D.L. 1970. An ecological study of four darters of the genus Percina (Percidae) in the Kaskaskia River, Illinois. Ill. Nat. Hist. Surv. Biol. Notes 70: 1–18.
Turner, C.L. 1921. Food of the common Ohio darters. Ohio J. Sci. 22: 41–62.
Udvardy, M.D.F. 1969. Dynamic zoogeography with special reference to land animals. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co, New York. 445 pp.
Wallace, R.K. Jr 1981. An assessment of diet-overlap indexes. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 110: 72–76.
Whitaker, J.O. Jr 1975. Foods of some fishes from the White River at Petersburg, Indiana. Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. 84: 491–499.
Zaret, T.M. & A.S. Rand. 1971. Competition in tropical stream fishes: support for the competitive exclusion principle. Ecology 52: 336–342.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Martin, F.D. Diets of four sympatric species of Etheostoma (Pisces: Percidae) from southern Indiana: interspecific and intraspecific multiple comparisons. Environ Biol Fish 11, 113–120 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00002260
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00002260