Hábitos alimentarios de un pez siluriforme de la ciénaga de Ayapel, cuenca del río San Jorge, Colombia

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.7182427122

• Palavras-chave: Dieta, Ecología alimentaria, Ecología trófica, Conservación.

• Keywords: Diet, Food ecology, Trophic ecology, Conservation.

• Abstract: The Cachegua Trachelyopterus insignis (Steindachner, 1878) is a small catfish belonging to the order Siluriformes that has been little studied due to its low commercial importance, despite being one of the important species in subsistence fishing activity. Its feeding habits in the Cienaga de Ayapel, San Jorge River basin, Colombia, were studied, evaluating its stomach content, as well as food preferences according to the size and the hydrological cycle of the cienaga, and the gut length-total length relationship. It was found that almost a third of the stomachs studied were empty (29.5%), most of the food was found half digested (60.3%), five food groups were identified in their diet: Fish, Vegetal matter, Insects, Detritus and Others, and the first record in Colombia of an anuran in its stomach contents is presented. Fish was the most frequent food group (61.6%), the most numerous (39.5%) and the one with the highest composition by weight (45.1%), constituting the main food of the species, followed by Vegetal matter, being considered as food groups of secondary relative importance. The results show that the Cachegua is a fish with a broad trophic spectrum, or generalist, which suggests an omnivorous feeding habit with a piscivorous tendency.