P.senegalus diet in the wild

[beblondie]

In a paper"BIOLOGY OF POLYPTERUS SENEGALUS (PISCES, POLYPTERIDAE) IN THE PRU RIVER,
GHANA"by H.Dankwa
The stomach contents of 110 P.senegalus senegalus were sampled

Odonata nymphs-dragon fly
orthoptera larvae-locust
tricoptera-cadis fly
hemiptera-Hemiptera is an order of insects, comprising around 80000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, shield bugs and others
diptera larvae-The order Diptera includes all true flies.They live in aquatic (fresh water), semi-aquatic, or moist terrestrial environments.
for totals see chart (notice whats not listed in the contents)

 

[sauroid]

all along we thought they were piscivores...
thanks for sharing.

 

[beblondie]

Well the fish could be part of the unidentified material depening on how far digestion has gone -Anne

 

[ewurm]

all along we thought they were piscivores...
thanks for sharing.

Well, they certainly will eat fish, but it seems that crabs must be an easier target. What do you think of trying to feed small FW crabs to my polys?

 

[sauroid]

my bichirs eat shrimps (live, frozen and fresh-caught [dead]). i dont know about small FW crabs tho.

 

[channarox]

hmm.
interesting.

 

[Cohazard]

I'm surprised too that they didn't find identifiable fish remains. I would imagine a fish takes longer to digest than an insect.

Did Dankwa mention what size the sample sens were?

 

[beblondie]

13.8 to 35.1 cm (SL) in length

 

[Onion01]

lol, a bird leg?!?

 

[ironmunki]

lol, a bird leg?!?

shocked me too. lol