Diversity of food spectra of vendace in the water bodies of Eurasia

Abstract

The composition and relative importance of food organisms in the food bolus were analyzed for two species (forms) of vendace: European vendace Coregonus albula and sardine cisco C. sardinella from water bodies of Russia (Yaroslavl, Vologda, Kaliningrad, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk Oblasts; Altai, Novosibirsk, and Krasnoyarsk Krais; Republic of Karelia, Komi Republic, and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), Finland, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, and Poland. Vendace is a typical planktivorous fish in most lakes of the boreal zone, but euryphagous consuming significant number of benthic invertebrates in the northern water bodies of Eurasia. Both forms of vendace are characterized by feeding plasticity, diversity of the food spectrum and its seasonal and spatial variability. The ecological and geographical features of the lakes precondition the composition and abundance of food organisms, thus influencing the food spectrum of vendace.

Keywords

• coregonus
• fish nutrition
• trophic links
• plankton
• benthos
• feeding plasticity
• euryphagy
• productivity