The Food Habits of Ctenopoma pethereci, Gunther (Pisces: Anabantidae) in River Oluwa, Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The natural foods of Ctenopoma pethereci from River Oluwa in Ondo State, South-west Nigeria, were urrence and points methods of analysis. The quantity of food in the full stomach constituted 0.83% of the body weight while food in the intestine formed 1.54%, thus, giving the quantity of food in the entire gut as 2.37% of the body weight. There was little or no qualitative difference in the food items found in the stomachs and intestines. The food items encountered in the gut covered a wide spectrum, and the species is shown to utilize a wider variety of plant materials than animals. The dominant plant source included diatoms, blue-green algae, green algae and higher plants, while the range of animals included rotifers, copepods and insects. Organic detritus also formed a substantial portion of its food which amounted to 98.94%. The study revealed that C. pethereci is an omnivore with herbivorous tendency in River Oluwa.