Feeding experiments with silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix Val.) fry

Gut content microbiota of introduced bigheaded carps ( Hypophthalmichthys spp.) inhabiting the largest shallow lake in Central Europe

“…Thus, silver carp had been stocked to several lakes throughout the world to improve the poor water quality and control cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophic/hypertrophic water bodies (Xie and Liu, 2001;Radke and Kahl, 2002). The role of cyanobacteria in the nutrition of bigheaded carps was also studied formerly in Lake Balaton and its watershed (Herodek et al, 1989;Vörös et al, 1997) and in other lakes (e.g. Domaizon and Devaux, 1999), and size-selective filtration and taxon-specific digestion of planktonic algae (including cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae) were revealed (Vörös et al, 1997;Boros et al, 2012;Görgényi et al, 2016).…”

Co-occurring bighead and silver carps show similar food preference but different isotopic niche overlap in different lakes

“…Our results showed that, in all four lakes, dietary contributions from OM, which consisted of <64 μm particle size, were very low. This could be due to inability to digest as suggested by some authors (Herodek et al 1989;Smith 1989;Xie 1999Xie , 2001. In fact, these smaller particles are more likely to be ingested accidentally while feeding.…”

“…Many authors have reported on possible habitat alterations by these carps (Vybornov 1989;Laws and Weisburd 1990). Excrement from SC could be equal to its body weight in 10 days (Herodek et al 1989). Therefore, carps in high densities may lead to organically enriched lake bottoms altering the structure of the benthic macroinvertebrate community (Leventer and Teltsch 1990).…”

“…By contrast, BC has less specialized comb-like gill rakers, and usually filters much larger particles, although smaller particles may be collected with the help of mucus in gill area (Xie 2001). Gut content analysis and laboratory feeding experiments have demonstrated that SC efficiently consumes both phytoplankton and zooplankton, but does not efficiently digest algae smaller than 10 μm (Cremer and Smitherman 1980;Herodek et al 1989;Smith 1989). Several studies have revealed negative relationships between SC and algal biomass (Starling and Rocha 1990;Starling 1993;Xie 1996;Fukushima et al 1999), whereas some other studies indicated that SC stimulated growth of algae (Januszko 1974;Opuszynski 1978Opuszynski ,1979.…”

Influence of environmental factors and individual traits on the diet of non-native hybrid bigheaded carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix × H. nobilis) in Lake Balaton, Hungary

“…However, it appears that phytoplankton has only a negligible contribution to the diet of 387 bigheaded carps in Lake Balaton, which could be explained at least in part by the low biomass 388 of algae in Lake Balaton (monitored via the chlorophyll-a concentration in the water column). 389 Previous laboratory experiments on the feeding habits of silver carp revealed that the intensity 390 of grazing on phytoplankton was primarily determined by the density of algae in the ambient 391 water (Herodek et al, 1989). Thus, in oligotrophic and mesotrophic habitats (such as Lake 392 Balaton), the relative importance of phytoplankton in the food is supposed to be lower 393 compared to that in highly productive, eutrophic or hypertrophic ecosystems.…”