Trophic ecology of the freshwater prawn, Pseudopalaemon bouvieri, in Northeastern Argentina, with remarks on population structure

CARNEVALI ROMINA; COLLINS PABLO; POI DE NEIFF, ALICIA S. GUADALUPE

REVISTA DE BIOLOGíA TROPICAL

REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL

Lugar: San José; Año: 2012

0034-7744

The feeding ecology of a prawn, Pseudopalaemon bouvieri, was studied in two areas with six lagoons having a different composition and abundance of aquatic macrophytes. At each site, 18 samples, covering each one an area of approximately 1 m² following the macrophytes banks, were collected. We examined 208 stomachs for both areas. The population abundance varied between 10 ind.m-2 and 1411 ind.m-2. The size of cephalothorax length ranged between 6 mm and 21 mm, and the male:female ratio varied between 0.3 and 1.0 with a higher proportion of ovigerous females (21%) in area 1 than area 2. P. bouvieri is omnivorous, and its diet was principally based on algae, plant remains, Protozoa, Rotifera, Oligochaeta, Crustacea, Insecta, detritus and other items. The analysis of the stomach content did not reveal any significant difference in the diet between juveniles and adults. Males and females of both areas consumed a similar diet (Kruskal-Wallis test p= 0.8273).