A Diet Comparison of Bluegill and Bluegill x Pumpkinseed Hybrids

Authors

Russell D. Zwiers

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus and pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus commonly prey upon macroinvertebrates but have been found to show different preferences to what type of macroinvertebrates. Hybrids of the two species have been found to display physical characteristics of both parents but prey selection of the hybrids compared to the parents is unknown. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the diets of bluegill and bluegill x pumpkinseed hybrids to understand what each species’ preference is when it comes to food as well as finding how a hybrid’s diet compares to the pure breed of one of the two crossed parents. The target species were caught from Big Bass Lake between the dates of 25 September and 5 October 2023. The stomach contents were then identified to the lowest classification possible and counted. Gastropods were a significant diet source for both sampled species, specifically planorbid snails that were less than 2 mm in diameter. Gastropods made up 97.8% of the hybrid diet items and 68.1% for bluegill. A non-metric multidimensional statistic was run to find relations in diet contents in the species using ordination ellipses. Slight diet overlap occurred due to the significance of gastropods in both species diet contents.

Publication Date

2023

Comments

Faculty sponsor: Dr. Andrew Hafs

Recommended Citation

Zwiers, Russell D., "A Diet Comparison of Bluegill and Bluegill x Pumpkinseed Hybrids" (2023). Journal of Earth and Life Science. 1.
https://pines.bemidjistate.edu/j-earth-life-sci/1