Food supply and prey selection in planktivorous cyprinidae

Summary In small Bavarian lakes, the gut contents of the Cyprinid fish roach (Rutilus rutilus), rudd (Scardinius erythrophtalamus), bream (Abramis brama) and bleak (Alburnus alburnus), and the actural food supply during the fish's feeding period were examined in relation to the species composition of zooplankton. Accompanied by feeding experiments in the laboratory, the selective effect of fish predation could be attributed to the distribution patterns of prey and predator in time and space, to the prey's specific visibility and escape ability and, to some extent, to the fish's active choice. The possibility that the species composition of zooplankton is regulated was indicated only in the fish's positively abundance-dependent preference for the prey types and restricted to only a few plankter species.