Effects of Benthic Prey Composition and Abundance on Diet and Growth of Black Crappies in Three Florida Lakes

Abstract

The influence of benthic prey availability on growth of black crappies Pomoxis nigromaculatus is poorly understood due to scant research on the relationships between benthic prey abundance and composition and black crappie diet. However, benthic taxa play an important role as prey items of black crappies during intermediate ontogenetic diet phases. We evaluated diet, growth, and abundance of black crappies in three large Florida lakes (Lochloosa, Marian, and Monroe), and we related diets to benthic prey availability at these lakes. Black crappies in Lake Monroe obtained the largest size at age, whereas those in Lake Marian had the smallest size at age. Black crappies in Lakes Lochloosa and Marian consistently exhibited positive selection of dipteran pupae; fish in Lake Monroe showed consistently positive selection of a higher‐quality prey item (the mysid shrimp Americamysis almyra) that was not available in Lakes Lochloosa and Marian. A similarity index indicated that benthic prey availability influenced consumption of benthic prey items by black crappies in all three lakes. Differences in prey availability (i.e., density and presence‐absence) and prey selection influenced diet composition and ontogenetic diet shifts of black crappies. Diet and prey availability differences among lakes probably contributed to the variation in black crappie growth rates; the highest growth was observed at Lake Monroe, where the additional prey resource (A. almyra) was available.

Understanding the effects of density and environmental variability on the process of fish growth

“…Lochloosa Lake is a 2,310 ha hypereutrophic lake located in north central Florida. The lake is shallow (average depth of 1.7 m) and does not stratify (Tuten et al, 2008). The Lochloosa Lake BC population is characterized as having high total mortality, relatively few large fish, and high recruitment variation (Tuten et al, 2008;Allen et al, 2013).…”

“…The lake is shallow (average depth of 1.7 m) and does not stratify (Tuten et al, 2008). The Lochloosa Lake BC population is characterized as having high total mortality, relatively few large fish, and high recruitment variation (Tuten et al, 2008;Allen et al, 2013). As a result, Lochloosa Lake BC provide a unique case study due to their relatively short life span (<10 years in Lochloosa Lake) and highly variable recruitment allowing large fluctuations in population size over short time periods.…”

Diet Partitioning in a Diverse Centrarchid Assemblage in the Atchafalaya River Basin, Louisiana

“…Interestingly, despite a relatively large gape and an abundance of prey fishes in the ARB, the Black Crappies' diet was dominated by grass shrimp Palaemonetes spp., which resulted in moderate to low diet overlap with either Largemouth Bass or the cohabiting Lepomis species. These amphidromous river shrimp may have been particularly vulnerable to Black Crappie predation due to (1) their abundance in the ARB (Truesdale and Mermilliod 1979;Fisher et al 2012); (2) their peaks in migration, which coincided with our summer sampling period; and (3) the nighttime movement of juvenile shrimp (Bauer and Delahoussaye 2008), which makes them highly vulnerable to nocturnal-and crepuscular-feeding crappies (Guy et al 1992;Shoup et al 2004;Tuten et al 2008). The lack of fishes in the diet of this reportedly piscivorous centrarchid (Maceina et al 1991;Muoneke et al 1992;Mittelbach and Persson 1998) may have been related to increased foraging in open water beyond the vegetation as a response to competitive and/or predatory interactions (e.g., Mittelbach 1986) with larger piscivores, such as Largemouth Bass, Bowfins Amia calva, and Spotted Gars Lepisosteus oculatus, all of which are commonly found in the ARB littoral zone.…”

Influence of Environmental Variables and Species Interactions on Sport Fish Communities in Small Missouri Impoundments

“…Furthermore, aquatic macrophyte elimination and benthic foraging by common carp may also reduce macroinvertebrate densities, which in turn could reduce the growth of fishes that feed on macroinvertebrate prey (Parkos et al 2003;Wahl et al 2011). The growth of black crappies, which are known to feed on macroinvertebrates (Ball and Kilambi 1973;Ellison 1984;Tuten et al 2008), may have suffered in lakes containing common carp because of lower prey resources. Lakes that contained gizzard shad usually had poorer growth and size structure of bluegills and black crappies but a better size structure of largemouth bass than lakes that lacked gizzard shad.…”