Observations on the food of eel (Anguilla anguilla L.) in Lake Balaton

Bíró, Péter (1974) Observations on the food of eel (Anguilla anguilla L.) in Lake Balaton. A Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Tihanyi Biológiai Kutatóintézetének évkönyve, 41. pp. 133-151. ISSN 0365-3005

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Abstract

From the investigations on stomach and intestine contents of eels carried out during 1970-73, the following have been established: 1. The main food items of eel are sharply distinguished in the littoral zone and in the open water areas. In the former, among the periphyton-living animals various crustaceans (Asellus aquaticus, Dicerogammarus spp., Corophium cmvispinum f. devium, Limnomysis benedeni) yield the main food, whereas they have no practical importance in the open water (1000-1500 m off shore). They are replaced by larvae and pupae of Chironomus ex gr. plumosus representing a sigificant biomass, and besides these the ratios of molluscs (Lithoglyphus naticoides, Dreissena polymorpha) and fish are also increased. Eel production a t open water is decisively based on mud of high organic detritus content by the mud-consuming Chironomids. 2. Eel in Lake Balaton grows rapidly even in European respects, it is an intensive food-utilizer owing to its omnivorous feeding pattern. 3. No sharp competition between eel and other predatory fish (pikeperch, pike, etc.) was found, however, the food-supply in the littoral zone was of decisive importance from the viewpoint of the development of Cyprinids and fry. Slight food pauperisation of this region was observed, consequently, we must beware of overstocking the lake with eels. 4. The discovered feeding relations press for a quantitative survey of food-supply of Lake Balaton, which is yet inadequately known.

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