Feeding ecology of curvina Plagioscion squamosissimus (Hechel, 1840) (Osteichthyes, Perciformes) in the Itaipu Reservoir and Porto Rico floodplain

Abstract

Fish samplings were carried out from November 1983 to September 1988, at different sites of the Paraná River basin, comprising the section between the Paranapanema and Iguaçu Rivers, with the purpose of analysing the diet diversity of curvina, Plagioscion squamosissimus, according to the spatial distribution and size of the individuals. The curvina was considered piscivorous, due to the predominance of fish in its diet, although insects (dominant in some ocasions) and crustaceans have been registered. The most frequently items were Hypophthalmus edentatus, Roeboides paranensis and Loncariichthys platymetopon. Spacial changes in the diet seem associated with the availability of prey in the environment. Piscivory increased with the curvina length, as well as the average size of the ingested prey.