Changes in the Abundance of Two Atherinid Species after Aquatic Vegetation Removal
- 1 January 1991
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 120 (1) , 90-97
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1991)120<0090:citaot>2.3.co;2
Abstract
Brook silverside Labidesthes sicculus and inland silverside Menidia beryllina coexisted in Lake Conroe, Texas, for at least 6 years before we began our field sampling in 1980. We hypothesized that an extensive infestation of aquatic vegetation was a critical factor allowing sympatry, because introduced inland silversides have rapidly displaced endemic brook silversides in other, less-vegetated, reservoir systems. We believe that an abundant invertebrate prey base associated with the aquatic vegetation was responsible for a low level of interspecific competition for food resources between the two silverside species in Lake Conroe. After removal of vegetation in 1981–1983 by grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, the inland silverside population expanded and the brook silverside population declined. By 1986, brook silversides were rare in seine samples taken from, or near, the main basin of the reservoir and appeared to be restricted to tributaries and coves. Data suggest that food habits of the silve...Keywords
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