Laboratory and field studies on diet choice in three‐spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus L., in relation to profitability and visual features of prey

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Abstract
Diet choice by three‐spined sticklebacks was investigated under both laboratory and field conditions. In the laboratory, sticklebacks did not always choose the more profitable of two prey items; instead, they apparently selected prey according to a set of proximate decision rules based on visual cues provided by the prey. Studies of the diet of sticklebacks in the field suggest that they may use the same set of proximate decision rules to select their food and that in these more complex conditions this may lead them to feed preferentially on the more profitable types of prey. In general, sticklebacks selected zooplanktonic rather than benthic prey (which is less profitable), but the importance of benthos in the diet increased as the density of zooplankton decreased.