Dietaries and diet dispersity of some perciform species of Ikpa River, Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

The trophic structure of the perciform fish fauna in Ikpa River were assessed from March, 2009 to Febru¬ary, 2010. The aim was to determine the feeding patterns and interspecific interactions of the nine species examined. Twenty-three dietaries were identified; with fish and crustaceans being the most important food resources exploited. Cluster and principal component analyses (Euclidean Distance) identified three main trophic guilds (carnivores, detritivores and omnivores). The interspecific diet breadth and similarity values were low suggesting wide partitioning of the food resource with a tendency toward trophic specialization. The two specialist guilds (detritivores and carnivores) displayed low to moderate breadth niche (B = 0.01 - 0.37 and B = 0.05, respectively). The omnivores also showed low breadth niche, B = 0.16. Trophic levels (TL) were 2.09 - 2.91, 4.05-4.5 and 2.88 - 3.25 for the three trophic guilds, respectively; higher (> 4) in piscivorous carnivores which preferred items of higher trophic value like fish. The fish samples exhibit excellent body condition and well-being.