South Dakota State University

Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange Theses and Dissertations

1964

Food Habits of Bigmouth and Smallmouth Buffalo in Lewis and Clark Lake and the Missouri River Thomas S. McComish

Follow this and additional works at: http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd Part of the Natural Resources and Conservation Commons Recommended Citation McComish, Thomas S., "Food Habits of Bigmouth and Smallmouth Buffalo in Lewis and Clark Lake and the Missouri River" (1964). Theses and Dissertations. Paper 175.

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FOCD I!ABITS CF BIG!11>UTD AND SHt..LU:OUTH BUFFALO

MISSOUi?.I RIVER

BY

TllOHAS S. McCOMISll

A th�ois suboittcd

i::.i. ?��tic.1 folf illr:-.cnt of the rcqui'l:ctr.cnts for the ec::;rcc �-::Jotc:: oi Science, Dcl)n.:tr.:ent of tliltlli:fo E�i.�scr..cnt, South D�kota State Collc�c of Agriculture �nd }:iechanic Arts

1964 e- ""' :TW T'\A

lttiT .t. oC: ::..::..:U:r; we::.:c u·;.;;,1 ::iuE:izlo collcc:.:ccl in 1%2 and 1%3 fro:n L�wis and Clnrk L.:;:,c c.�d !:he Hissou:ri P.iv2r.

Young-of- t:ie-yea:.c h4.''il'.Outh baffalo

s::or.:::chs C':>�1.:.::incd 100 pe:rce:::it zoo?la:ikton.

Bi�outh buffalo {330 to

530 1�illirr.r-�e�s) stouiachs co;itained 99 percent zooplankton in 1952 �nd 95 ?C�cent i� 19�3.

Digestive tracts of youn3"of•t:ie•year small•

�uth ouffolo e;o:.tcinc Ictiobu:, cy•Ydncl 1.us and

:C:-.::o�.:..

S::,dies =once::nin� food habits of bigmouth and SI!'..:illmouth buffa• :;.o r.a:-e ::. imi::ci.

.., .... r-,,·�·.."l

.. _ -- ,

-�� .... -3 -·

r-c�o:.1t o .:udic$ on tnc focdinz of bigm-:>uth b'Jffalo were

Jo'h..-,•. �.on •

_

-·

c� f\f,3) - '.).

�n S ... rl·� .. c'"At,"'n -•

.:.1 u •'-,;.:::: ·u idc- �nzlc oc�l.:.;:- lens and a 1 0- powcr objective lens .

5

·.:::�10 c:1:: :�::c ,1 :.:.-:;c � t ivc t:.:-.:1 c t s o f you�- of- t:hc- yca r fioh were re•

c:./:. L:.,�c:: .

o�·�.3

r:1 il � i:i. itc;� ur.s :cemovcd .::nd a count of microor:;anist:13

r:.;::;tor.run 2 1 0- I.� (::.r...a l l ) (r;.e cl iUiil) 7 X 1 0- l� 1,. ...••. i n ( large ) u-4 l'\ v Eucycloos 5 .... l u- 4 Cope�,od eggs 2 x 1 0- 6 lfaupl ii 43 x 1 0- 6

Cless ific c t: ion of orr;c.ni::.r.1s

S 39 '� .t• 1 0-

..,':! ••v 1 0- 5

..

7�. }� 1 0- 0 55 \' 1 0- 8

:::.:::.::��

( ,,-,,.,. "j , ) ..., L\"":"; , • .,_

(rxcl iur:i) (large ) -· 1 - · .. .._:� ··�1-� n :.c:. c33s I-,0 ...) ·:: oJo:... .:1

Cope r,o..:i.?. -:::,:-:� lvr,s

(Sr.',rtl l ) (�nc!".'":· of:·g- y�nr ::i i�r::·., uth �uffalo .

Stomch analys is was con-

c�c tu� on 2 G l f ish �&nginc from 16 to 47 mill ime ters in length captured .::'.l..:inz t:ie sur:urer of 1 96 3 ,

Nine teen fish col lections uere made in

z:-:.:::. l l ou I.>c1ys and te.:minal ends of intermittent streams in the lake ,·;ha�c cle?tho wc::e le s s than th:-ec feet.

These �reas were sampled by

;::�� .:. .!. r.:esh sc inin3 . ( 191 fish) end e lectrofishing (66 f ish) which .ac• c o�:.�C(; fot 98 :_Jc:ccent of a l l f ish captured.

Two collections by

::.;:-c.ui in:::; i1c�e r::acic in five to s ix fee t of water and accounted for only

Zoc?l:'!r.l�ton :.'.:ldc up 100 percent of the s torr.ach volume anci occu=�cods · (p!'iuc ipally Cvc k,ps, Diaotorr:-.! S , and

.�:·.:.-::··;,;; �':. o:;s ) conti:' ibuteci 30 pc:cccnt to the volume while cladoccrans

8

T�:.,ic 2 .

Stor.:.::..:h contcntc oi: youn::;· o:2· thc·ycur bignouth buffalo taken :::.:0::1 L.::�1:..s .:::r.·J CJ. .::: ::.::� L::!:e: ch�;:inc June , july , nnc1 Augus t , 1 %3-- c �q1.· ctrn.;ci e s perccl1t volume and percent frequency of oc ct..� l:'::��11.:c ( r�::-c1:tl1ccc s ) .

Fish le�rrt:i1 i.utc rv.1l s (mil 1 iL1e i:Cl:'S )

Itc�:

:i.�- 1 9

..

Chlo.:ophyta

mo vr

:7�0� i[C· l:"�

(�5 ) 91.:(100)

C�-\.l S t�CCC

4.3

Cl�clocc 1:a.

(63) 51 (68)

Co;.:??Od.! Fr�;z�cntsi.�'-:

.,,...

I��e c ta

'£-) \. ,·

Di·�:,·::c�c.

T (L;. )

Stc�·�;c:1s t1itl� food

s·� .:,.::�c:1::: C!:i:-r.:y

.... ......... � �r::O�i.1 t�

r:,. .. ..... ., :.

17::��l:.Cl'l ts

25 l

1 00

( 1 00 ) t� (l:.1 ) % ( 100)

21

((it, ) 73 (7 5 ) 2 (2)

100

( 1 00)

9 (83 ) 91 (7 3 ) 1 (2 7 ) 90 ( 65 )

T

T

(2 ) T (2 )

(4 ) '!' (4 )

61 0

52 1

lcsz tl;an one percent .

of Cr..is tccea .

35;,. 39 . 40-44

45-l,9

'1

T

( 100)

30- 3l;

(/:. ) T (l} )

(l:. )

ZOO"?l�i�l�tOZ"'1

·.,·-:·::

25- 29

T·'· (/� )

Pl1ytopl�nkton

·::

20-24

100

(100)

25 (99 ) 75 ( 40) 1 (12 ) 74

( 35 )

1 00

(100) 6

(87 ) 9l�

(90 ) 1 (37 )

93 (90)

100

(100) 13 (100)

87 100) ( 10

(100) 77

(100)

100

(100) T (lvO) 100

(100) 1

(100) 99 (100)

T (2 ) T

(2 )

85

0

30

0

4 0

2 0

9

(rep�eaented by

GllxsSWtM!! and Rllbn&I)

accounted for 11 percent .

Cladocera were more unprtant te the smal l er fish (15 to 34 111111 1• meters ) and averaged 32 percent of the ir etomaeh volumes .

The i-oti•

:fe r s , kaDShM!D,U and kUSIUfh made up n.ine percent o f the volume in all atomaeba .

Johnson ( 1 963) found copepoda and c ladocerana to be the

mo•t impOl"tant food organism& of young b iptautb buffalo in Pas qua Lake • Se.1katflhewan. wects (Gb&!RD99ll larvae ) and phytoplankton (1$4:&Alti&) were fcurid in trace amounts and contributed U.tUe to the stomach volwntu, .

Mi\h

bYM1.J�

!mibt2•

During col lection periods in 1 962 and

1963 1 12.5 b igmouth buffalo ranging in s iee from 33-0 to S30 milU.me ters were col lec ted for ttomaeh analysis .

Becauae of poor i-ecru:l.tment , no

bf,gmoutb buffalo from SO to 330 mill ime ters were col lected .

Thirty- two

collections which accounted for 6S percent of the catch were me4e by eleetrofiahiD.S along ehoreU.nes in leas than four feet of wate r .

S1X""

teen collections representing 35 percent of the fish captured were made in water e ight to ten fe�t deep by trawling and g ill netting .

The se

f:lah were m1i.nnb,u·s of the 1 955 through 1958 year classe s . Cope poda (BQll!Wal,

les . 1. .

7he :::e thod o f subsampl ing used , count ing the microorzanisms

:..z-; ... m::.l l il ite-i: sample and L'1Ul t ip l y ir.g by 2 d ilution factor , d id not ;) rova to be s at i s factory .

No c on fi