The food of pike-perch (Lucioperca lucioperca L.) in Lake Balaton

Biró, Péter (1973) The food of pike-perch (Lucioperca lucioperca L.) in Lake Balaton. A Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Tihanyi Biológiai Kutatóintézetének évkönyve, 40. pp. 159-183. ISSN 0365-3005

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Abstract

The stomach-contents of 3347 pike-perches of 300-500 g body weight were analyzed during 1970 an d 1971. The food is composed of 10 fish species to a seasonally variable extent. Among them only 2-3 play a decisive role owing to their frequency of occurrence. They are the bleak (Alburnus alburnus), the ruff (Acerina cernua) and the pike-perch fry (Lucioperca lucioperca). When the fry appear, the food consists almost exclusively of them. The most commonly fed size-groups of each food-fish species can clearly be determined from the sizes of fishes found in the stomachs. The stomachs of pike-perches investigated as a rule contained 1-2 fish, apart from those having an actually empty stomach. The number of fish consumed depends among others on the mass appearance of fry of suitable sizes. The value of food coefficient in the majority of cases was 0.02-2.6 (76 percent), and values between 2.6 and 5.1 were encountered in about 17 percent of the predators. The food consumption is insufficient, since the daily amount of food is only 1-4 g. Accordingly, also the food rate is very low, hardly reaching the value of 1 percent of body weight during both years. Five new species of fish were found in the food of the pike-perch of Lake Balaton which were not consumed formerly. Among them the Neogobius fluviatilis may later achieve greater significance because of its mass appearance and propagation observed during recent years.

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