Some factors regulating piscivory of brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, in lakes of the Laurentian Shield

Abstract

A survey of 13 lakes containing brook trout and northern redbelly dace Phoxinus eos, five lakes containing trout and creek chub Semotilus atromaculatus, and six lakes containing trout, dace and chub indicated that prey-fish could represent up to 30% of trout diet by weight. Trout preyed almost exclusively on dace, predation increased with trout size, predation on dace was significantly higher in the Salvelinus-Phoxinus-Semotilus association than in the Salvelinus-Phoxinus association even though trout were significantly smaller in the former than in the latter association, and predation in the Salvelinus-Phoxinus-Semotilus association was higher in two lakes and nearly always absent in the other four. Experiments indicated that small trout (150-250 mm total length, TL) preferred small prey-fish (40-60 mm TL), large trout (250-380 mm TL) showed no significant preference with regard to the size of prey-fish (up to 170 mm TL), trout of both size classes preferred dace when dace and chub were present, presence of refuge (Cassandra calyculata) for prey-fish significantly reduced the number of attacks and captures upon dace, and large trout switched from an active to a sit-and-wait foraging pattern when a prey refuge was present. -Authors