Abstract
Lake Agmon was created in the Hula Valley in Israel, in the northern part of the dried-up Hula Lake site, in summer, 1994. Samples of fish at ten stations were taken by electroshocker once a month, from January to December, 1996. The fish species whose food composition in the gut was examined in this study were: Tilapia zillii, Gambusia affinis, Clarias gariepinus, Cyprinus carpio, Pseudophoxinus kervillei, Acanthobrama lissneri, Hemigrammocapoeta nana and Oreochromis aureus. Food components were determined qualitatively and quantitatively. Assessment of the organism biomass in the gut contents was based on available data of phytoplankton and zooplankton. The food of G. affinis changed during the year, consisting high level of algae in winter and spring, and insects and crustaceans in summer. In T. zillii, a high percentage of algae were found in winter, and a high percentage of plants in summer. The food of H. nana consisted mainly of phytoplankton, but included high plants during most months; P. kervillei ingested mainly insects and crustaceans, with a high percentage of Daphnia spp.; and the diet of C. gariepinus comprised fish and invertebrates species, which varied with the seasons. C. carpio ate mainly invertebrates; O. aureus are vegetarian, and A. lissneri fed on both animals and plants.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angermeier, P. L. & J. R. Karr, 1983. Fish communities along environmental gradients in a system of tropical streams. Envir. Biol. Fish 9: 117–135.
Atkinson, E. G. & J. A. Percy, 1991. Stomach content analysis of marine benthid fish from Arctic Canada. Data Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci., Report No. 840, 38 pp.
Beckman, C. W., 1962. The Freshwater Fish of Syria and their General Biology and Management. FAO Fish Biol. Tech., 297 pp.
Ben Tuvia, A., 1978. Fishes. In C. Serruya (ed.), Lake Kinneret Monographiae Biologicae, Dr W. Junk Publishers, The Hague, Netherlands: 407–430.
Berman, T. & U. Pollingher, 1974. Annual and seasonal variations of phytoplankton, chlorophyll and photosynthesis in Lake Kinneret. Limnol. Oceanogr. 19: 31–55.
Beumer, J. P. & D. J. Harrington, 1982. A preliminary study of movement of fishes through a Victorian (Lerderderg River) fish ladder. Proc. R. S. Vict. 94: 121–132.
Deegan, L. A., B. J. Peterson, H. Golden, C. C. McIvor & M. C. Miller, 1997. Effects of fish density on algal standing stocks, invertebrate communities and fish production in an arctic river. Can. J. Fish. aquat. Sci. 54: 269–283.
Degani, G., Y. Yehuda, K. Jackson & M. Gophen, 1998. Spatial and temporal variation in fish community structure of Lake Agmon, Israel. Wet. Ecol. Mgmt (in press).
Elorduy-Garay, J. F. & J. Caraveo-Patino, 1994. Feeding habits of the ocean whitefish, Caulolatilus princeps Jenyns 1942 (Pisces: Branchiostegidae), in La Paz, Mexico. Cienc. Mar. 20: 199–218.
Gophen, M., 1973. Zooplankton. In T. Berman (ed.), Lake Kinneret Data Record, Israel Natl. Council Res. Dev.: 61–67.
Gophen, M. & A. Scharf, 1981. Food and feeding habits of Mirogrex fingerlings in Lake Kinneret (Israel). Hydrobiologia 78: 3–9.
Goren, M., 1974. The freshwater fish of Israel. Isr. J. Zool. 23: 67– 118.
Jackson, D. A. & H. H. Harvey, 1989. Biogeographic associations in fish assemblages: local vs. regional processes. Ecology 72: 1314–1324.
Komarovsky, B., 1952. An analysis of the stomach content of Acanthobrama terraesanctae from Lake Tiberius. Bull. Sea Fish Res. Stn., Caesaria 4: 1–8.
Olaso, I., 1990. Distribution and abundance of invertebrate megabenthos in Cantabrian shelf bottom. Spanish Oceanographic Institute Publication No. 5, 128 pp.
Persson, L., S. Dieha, L. Johansson, G. Andersson & S. F. Hamrin, 1991. Shift in fish community along the productivity gradient of temperate lakes-patterns and the importance of size-structure interaction. J. Fish Biol. 38: 281–293.
Pierce, C. L., J. B. Rasmussen & W. C. Leggett, 1994. Littoral fish communities in southern Quebec Lakes: relationships with limnological and prey resource variables. Can. J. Fish. aquat. Sci. 51: 1128–1138.
Prejs, A., P. Koperski & K. Prejs, 1995. Food-web manipulation in a small, eutrophic Lake Wirbel, Poland. The effect of replacement of key predators on epiphytic fauna. In L. Kufel, A. Prejs & J. I. Rybak (eds), Proc. Conf. on Trophic Cascades in Shallow Freshwater and Brackish Lakes, Mikolajki, Poland.
Qin, J. & D. A. Culver, 1995. Separate and combined effects of larval walleye and fertilization on plankton community structure in enclosures. J. Freshwat. Ecol. 10: 385–391.
Romer, G. S., 1990. Surf zone community and species response to a wave energy gradient. J. Fish. Biol. 36: 279–287.
Shapiro, J., V. Lammara & M. Lynch, 1975. Biomanipulation: an ecosystem approach to lake restoration. In P. L. Bretonik & J. Fox (eds), Proc. Symp. on Water Management though Biological Control, University of Florida, Gainsville: 85–96.
Spataru, P. & M. Gophen, 1987a. The food and benthophagous feeding habits of Barbus longiceps (Cyprinidae) in Lake Kinneret (Israel). Arch. Hydrobiol. 110: 331–332.
Spataru, P. & M. Gophen, 1987b. Food composition of Tristamella sacra (Günther, 1864) (Cichlidae) in Lake Kinneret (Israel). Isr. J. Zool. 34: 183–189.
Spataru, P. & M. Zorn, 1978. Food and feeding habits of Tilapia aurea (Steindachner) (Cichlidae) in Lake Kinneret (Israel). Aquaculture 13: 67–69.
Spataru, P., G. W. Wohlfarth & G. Hulata, 1983. Studies on the natural food of different fish species in intensively manured polyculture ponds. Aquaculture 35: 283–298.
Utermohl, H., 1958. Zur Vervollkommung der quantiativen Phytonktonmethodic. Mitt. Int. Theor. Angew. Limnol. 9: 38 pp.
Vinyard, G. L., R. W. Drenner, M. Gophen, U. Pollingher, D. L. Winkelman & K. D. Hambright, 1988. An experimental study of the plankton community impacts of two omnivorous filter-feeding Cichlids, Tilapia galilaea and Tilapia aurea. Can. J. Fish. aquat. Sci. 45: 685–690.
Westerberg, H., 1990. A proposal regarding the source of nutrition of leptocephalus larvae. Int. Rev. Gesamt. Hydrobiol. 75: 863– 864.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gophen, M., Yehuda, Y., Malinkov, A. et al. Food composition of the fish community in Lake Agmon. Hydrobiologia 380, 49–57 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003225210226
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003225210226