First results of a study of the feeding habits of Synodontis comoensis (Siluriformes : Mochokidae) in a West African river (Comoe River, Comoe National Park, Cote d'Ivoire)

Kone, Tidiani; Kouamelan, Essetchi P; Yao, Stanislas S; N'Douba, Valentin; Ollevier, Frans

doi:10.1007/s10452-006-9074-y

First results of a study of the feeding habits of Synodontis comoensis (Siluriformes : Mochokidae) in a West African river (Comoe River, Comoe National Park, Cote d'Ivoire)

Author:

Kone, Tidiani

Kouamelan, Essetchi P ; Yao, Stanislas S ; N'Douba, Valentin ; Ollevier, Frans

Keywords:

diet, mochokid fish, seasonal variation, size effect, west africa, food-habits, california, Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Ecology, Limnology, Marine & Freshwater Biology, Environmental Sciences & Ecology, Mochokid fish, West Africa, FOOD-HABITS, DIET, 0602 Ecology, Marine Biology & Hydrobiology, 3103 Ecology

Abstract:

The feeding habits of Synodontis comoensis (Siluriformes, Mochokidae) have been studied for the first time. Specimens caught in the Comoe River (Comoe National Park, Cote d'Ivoire) had fed on different types of food including insects (Diptera, Ephemeroptera, Hymenoptera, and Isoptera), molluscs (gastropods and bivalves), oligochaetes, and macrophytes. The food items most frequently found in the stomach contents were chironomid larvae, oligochaetes, vegetable detritus, fruit, and gastropods. Correlation studies based on the index of preponderance of food items revealed noticeable variation in S. comoensis diet composition with fish size and season. Preferred food items of young fish were oligochaetes in the rainy season and vegetable detritus in the dry season. Food items preferred by larger fish were fruit and gastropods in the rainy season and chironomid larvae in the dry season.