Diets of four sympatric species of Etheostoma (Pisces: Percidae) from southern Indiana: interspecific and intraspecific multiple comparisons

  • F. Douglas Martin
Chapter
Part of the Developments in environmental biology of fishes book series (DEBF, volume 4)

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.

Keywords

Darters Feeding habits Stream invertebrates Order 3 streams Diet overlap Stream ecology 
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Copyright information

© Dr W. Junk Publishers, The Hague 1984

Authors and Affiliations

  • F. Douglas Martin
    • 1
  1. 1.Chesapeake Biological LaboratoryUniversity of Maryland Center for Environmental and Estuarine StudiesSolomonsUSA

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