Food, Age and Growth of the Pearl Dace, Semotilus margarita, in Nebraska
Stasiak RH. 1978. Food, Age and Growth of the Pearl Dace, Semotilus margarita, in Nebraska. The American Midland Naturalist. 100(2):463-466
A total of 315 pearl dace (Semotilus margarita nachtriebi) were collected from Bone Creek, a tributary to the Niobrara River, in Brown Co.; Nebraska, on 30 March 1974. The sex ratio of mature specimens was 1:1, but females grew faster, lived longer (age IV compared to age III for males) and attained greater size. Both sexes achieved sexual maturity after the second winter (age I). Food items included a wide variety of invertebrates representing benthic as well as surface organisms. Copepods and cladocerans were important in the diet of small ( 74 mm) consumed larger animals such as snails, fingernail clams, amphipods and large insects. Diptera larvae and adults were the most frequent items in the diet of dace of all size groups.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Stasiak, Richard
- Units
- NIOB
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Ecology, Fisheries Management, Inventory and Monitoring (I&M)