Feeding Habits of Larval Konosirus punctatus from the Nakdong River Estuary, Korea

We examined the feeding habits of larval Konosirus punctatus using 165 specimens collected from May to August 2011 in the Nakdong River estuary, Korea. We found that larval K. punctatus [3.9-8.4 mm notochord length (NL)] are carnivorous, consuming mainly rotifers. Their diet also included small numbers of rhizopods, tintinnids, euglenoids, copepods, larval bivalves, dinoflagellates, diatoms, and unidentified materials. To evaluate ontogenetic changes in dietary composition, we split the larvae into three size groups: < 5 mm, 5-6 mm, and > 6 mm NL. The smallest size group frequently preyed on rhizopods. As NL increased, the number of rotifers increased relative to those of rhizopods. Larvae also showed bimodal feeding for feeding incidence, with peaks in the midafternoon and at midnight, while the mean number of prey per individual peaked at 18:00-19:00 h.

낙동강 하구역에 출현하는 전어(Konosirus punctatus) 자치어의 식성