Food Habits of Five Fish Species from A Blackwater Creek in The Colombian Amazon

Abstract

To provide baseline life history information for some of the many small fishes found in blackwater forest streams in the Colombian Amazon near the town of Leticia, we describe trophic aspects of five species of fishes. Collections were made in April (high water), July (falling water) and November (rising water) of 1999. Diverse fishing gear was used, and sampling occurred in the afternoon and night, and usually lasted an average of five hours. We studied stomach contents of four characids: Ctenobrycon hauxwellianus (Cope 1870), Moenkhausia melogramma Eigenmann 1908, Tetragonopterus argenteus Cuvier 1816, Hemigrammus bellottii (Steindachner 1882) and one cichlid: Bujurquina cf. peregrinabunda (Eigenmann 1922). Most are feeding generalists but M. melogramma had a great preference for aquatic invertebrates, and B. cf. peregrinabunda ate both aquatic invertebrates and fishes.

Keywords

• diet
• food
• characidae
• stream
• amazonia