what do bichirs eat in the wild ?

[beblondie]

While wandering thru fishbase .org looking for something else i decided
to make a list of what bichirs eat in the wild objects listed are
stomach contents of examined specimens.This is done in one of two
ways either killing the fish and dissecting it or making the specimen
regurgatate the stomach contents.

P. palmas palmas (inverts,debris,plants,insects,fish)

(subspecies)P.palmas polli (insects)

(subspecies)P.palmas buettikoferi (n/a)

P.delhezi (insects,carcasses)

P.senegalus senegalus (insects)

P.senegalus meridionalis (N/A)

P.retropinnis (insects,vegetal debris)

P.mokelembembe (N/A)

P.weeksii (N/A)

P.teugelsi (N/A)

E.calabaricus (insects,inverts,unspecified worms)

Larger upper jaw species
P.ornatipinnis (crabs,shrimps,insects,fish)

smaller lower jaw species
P.bichir lapradei (fish)

Large lower jaw species
P.endlicheri endlicheri (fish)

(subspecies)P.endlicheri congicus (fish)

P.bichir bichir (fish)

P.ansorgii (n/a)

I found it interesting anyways lol-Anne

 

[Cohazard]

Hmm, sounds like the upper jaw species prefer shallower water where more plants will be, and bichirs being the clumsy creatures they are, unintentionally gobble down plants while trying to catch the insects.

I am surprised that the lower jaw polypterids didn't have more crab in their stomachs.

 

[uting]

nice read. I never thought that the smaller upper jaw species have a lot of fish in their diet,

 

[E_americanus]

predatory fishes like this are opportunistic feeders, so they, like other predatory organisms, will usually eat what is available in large quantities. you will get some incidental consumption (such as the veg matter), but small upper jaws will eat fish (likely small species or young of the year or juvenile prey fish) whereas the larger upper jaws will eat larger prey items.

another thing to note is that it really depends on the preparation of the specimen...predatory fish tend to digest food very quickly, so some remnants may be unidentifiable by the time the analyses are done on the fish...so some of the inverts may very well be digested by the time they are dissected or "puked" (the more commonplace name for gastric lavage) --
--solomon