Dieta de la carpa Notropis moralesi (Pisces: Cyprinidae) en el río Amacuzac, Morelos, México

Abstract

Diet of the chub, Notropis moralesi (Pisces: Cyprinidae) in the Amacuzac River, Morelos, Mexico. Notropis moralesi, locally known as "carpa tepelneme", is a small endemic fish of the Papaloapan River. We analyzed its diet and feeding habits. Specimens were captured monthly from Amacuzac, River, Morelos, Mexico. The gut content of 294 specimens was identified to the most specific taxonomic category possible. We quantified gut content by the numerical and frequency of occurrence methods and used the Levin’s amplitude of trophic niche indices and MacArthur and Levin`s indices for niche overlaping. The N. moralesi diet was composed by eleven prey categories, ten of which were of animal item. Chironomids and mayfly were the most consumed prey, independently of season and fish sex or size. We found ten nutritional components in the dry season, and eight in the rainy season. The estimated amplitude of trophic niche (Levin’s method) revealed high values in both seasons. The diet had ten nutritional components in immatures, eight in females and five in males. A Chi-squared test showed not significant differences in the diet by development stage, sex, and season. The niche overlaping index was high (above 0.60) for all analyses. N. moralesi is a carnivorous species with entomophagus tendencies. Rev. Biol. Trop. 57 (1-2): 195-209. Epub 2009 June 30.