NATURAL FOOD AND FEEDING
Although numerous studies on the food
composition of C. gariepinus have
been carried out, a consistent pattern has not emerged and they are generally
classified as omnivores or predators. Micha in 1973 examined catfishes from the
river Ubangui (Central
Africa Republic
Similarly, Bruton in 1979 found that
catfish in Lake Sibaya (South Africa) fed mainly on fish or crustacean, and
that terrestrial and aquatic insects were an important part of the diet of
juvenile and adult fish which inhabit shallow areas. However, molscs, diatoms,
arachnids, plant debris were the minor food items consumed in this lake. Munro
in 1967 studied the feeding habits of C.
gariepinus in Lake Mcllwaine (Zimbabwe) and found that feed composition
changes as fish became larger. Diptera, particularly chironomid pupae,
predominate in the diet of the smallest group but become progressively less
important with increasing size. Zooplankton became more more important with
increasing size and predominates in the diet of the largest fish. Most of the
minor food groups also showed progressive increase or decrease in important in
relation to increasing size (Figure 5). The greater importance of zooplankton
in the diet of large fish was believed to be due to the increased gape and
number of gill rakers of the larger fish by studies carried out by jubb in 1961
and Groenewald in 1964 respectively which presumably resulting in a more
efficient filter feeding. Spataru and his team in 1987 studied the feeding
habits of C. gariepinus in Lake
Kinneret (Israel) and found that preyed fish were the most abundant food component
(81%) constituted the highest biomass.
In
conclusion, we can consider C. gariepinus
as a slow moving omnivorous predatory fish which feeds on a variety of food
items from minute zooplankton to fish half of its own length or 10% of its own
body weight. Bruton also in 1979 find out that in order to feed on this wide
variety of organisms in different situations C. gariepinus is equipped with a wide array of anatomical
adaptations for feeding under low visibility including;
v A wide mouth capable of considerable
vertical displacement for engulfing large prey of large volumes of water during
filter feeding.
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