Natural diet of three species of shrimp in a tropical coastal lagoon

Abstract

The gut content of 495 specimens of Farfantepenaeus brasiliensis, 131 of F. paulensis (Penaeidae) and 102 of Macrobrachium acanthurus (Palaemonidae) were analyzed to establish the composition of their diets F. brasiliensis had as the most important feeding items in its diet larvae of Chironomidae, Polychaeta and Heleobia australis (Mollusca). For F. paulensis, the most important items were the same as for F. brasiliensis, but the order of importance of H. australis and Polychaeta was inverted. M. acanthurus had detritus as the most important item, followed by Chironomidae larvae, Odonata nymphs, and fragments of the macroalgae Chara. The results showed that the three species were omnivorous, with a varied diet including both components of macrofauna of benthos and associated to the macroalgae Chara and plant fragments and detritus.

Natural diet and feeding habits of a freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium carcinus: Crustacea, Decapoda) in the estuary of the Amazon River

“…According to Lewis et al (1966) M. carcinus is a prawn that ingests high percentage of detritus (77%) especially in the juvenile prawns, which is not evident in this study. Our results indicate that M. carcinus is omnivorous, but with an important carnivorous component, similar to that found in other species of Macrobrachium, such as M. amazonicum (Odinetz-Collart 1988), M. lamarrei (Sharma and Subba 2005), M. acanthurus (Albertoni et al 2003) and M. vollenhovenii . Lewis et al (1966) reported algae, detritus, animal and vegetable fragments in the stomach of M. carcinus; plant material was represented by leaves and stems of aquatic plants and seeds of various types; while animal items were represented by aquatic insects, fish, mollusks and other crustaceans.…”

“…The knowledge of the diet of a species in nature is important for the establishment of its nutritional needs and the interaction with other organisms (Albertoni et al 2003) and it is an important tool for evaluating the structure and functioning of ecosystems (Krebs 1989). Decapod crustaceans have been described as opportunistic omnivores, taking their food from the bottom of their habitats or from the fauna associated with submerged and shore vegetation in the water bodies (Williams 1981;Jayachandran and Joseph 1989).…”

Foregut morphology of Macrobrachium carcinus (Crustacea, Decapoda, Palaemonidae)

“…The functional morphology of the foregut can provide useful information about the feeding habits of reptant decapod crustaceans (Suthers 1984;Albertoni et al 2003;Drum 2005). There is much information about the decapod digestive tract, particularly concerning to economically important species, such as palinurids, scyllarids and penaeids (Cox and Bruce 2003;Suthers and Anderson 2006;Abrunhosa and Melo 2008).…”

Diversity of Shrimps at Asam-Asam River in Tanah Laut as A Teaching Material: Preliminary Study of Teaching Material Development On Environmental Toxicology Subject

“…This suspended solids could trigger other microorganism to survive in this area. Ref [10] said that Macrobrachium acanthurus shows the characteristic of omnivore, and their main food is detritus, while the others were oogonium, macroalgae, and a part of benthos.…”