Zooplankton capturing by Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Teleostei: Cichlidae) throughout post-larval development

ABSTRACT The Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758), uses filter feeding and visual predation to catch prey. In filter feeding, the mucus secreted in their gill rakers traps planktonic organisms. In visual predation, the fish spot and capture food, eating it directly. At different ontogenetic stages, the Nile tilapia may impact the zooplankton community differently, since it changes how it captures its prey. The objective in this study was to verify which zooplankton groups contribute to the diet of O. niloticus at the post-larval stage, and if the way they capture food may determine prey size. We evaluated the diet of Nile tilapia kept in ponds for four months. We randomly removed one fish per pond every month. Stomach contents and gills of fish were extracted, fixed in formaldehyde and then analyzed with an optical microscope and stereomicroscope with a micrometric ocular in order to measure the zooplankton and the gill rakers. Fish increased consumption of rotifers, and decreased the consumption of microcrustaceans considerably up to zero in the last month. The gill raker size, nevertheless, increased as tilapia grew. Therefore, negative correlations were found between raker size and size of ingested zooplankton, showing that the size of ingested prey decreases throughout this cichlid's life. Juveniles filter feed on rotifers, and actively prey on microcrustaceans. As adults, fish stop preying visually and the mucus secreted by the gill rakers trap only small individuals. Juvenile Nile tilapia filter feed and visually prey on zooplankton. However, when adults, filter-feeding plays a more important role in the way the zooplankton community is affected. The increase in the size of the Nile tilapia's gill raker does not determine the consumption of larger zooplankton prey, and the presence of mucus in these structures plays a major role for the capture of zooplankton during the cichlid's adult stage.