On the diurnal feeding rhythm in the threespine stickleback of Kandalaksha Bay in the White Sea
Abdel' Malek, S.A.
Voprosy Ichtiologii 3(2): 326-335
1963
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-8752 Accession: 025155628
Data were collected during the breeding season from 10 am, 21 June to 4 pm, 22 June, 1961, at 3-hour intervals. The gastrointestinal contents of 250 fish (25 per interval) were examined. During the 30-hour period, 2 clearcut maxima (7 p.m. and 7 a.m.) and 2 clearcut minima (10 am, and 1 am) in feeding intensity occurred. These maxima and minima did not appear to be directly related to the tides, but were more dependent upon qualitative and quantitative changes in the stickleback's (omnivorous) diet, i.e., in the availability of food items, which in turn is partly regulated by the tides. In no period was there a complete absence of feeding. The most preponderant food item was stickleback eggs (taken from the unguarded nests at low tide).