Food Items and Feeding Habits of White Bream, Blicca bjoerkna (Linnaeus, 1758) Inhabiting Lake Ladik (Samsun, Turkey)

Abstract

Food and feeding habits of white bream, Blicca bjoerkna specimens captured from Lake Ladik between November 2009 and October 2010 were investigated with respect to length groups and seasons. Stomach contents of 207 individuals ranging in size from 115 to 243 mm fork length were analyzed and 23.67% were empty. There was a seasonal variation in the feeding intensity of this species. The spring and summer feeding intensity were quite lower than other seasons. The food items in stomach showed a wide spectrum, ranging from phytoplankton, macrophytes, zooplankton to aquatic insects. Therefore, white bream displayed an omnivorous feeding. The relative importance index (RII%) indicated that Bosmina, Macrophytes, Chironomid larvae, Melosira, Navicula, Cymbella and Cyclopoid copepod were the most importance food items of white bream. The feeding strategy indicated that white bream plays an accelerator role in eutrophication. According to the Schoener's overlap index values, there was a high degree of consumed food overlap between spring-autumn (C-xy = 0.78095) and summer-winter (C-xy = 0.92035).