Consumption of three species of prey by brown trout (Salmo trutta) in a laboratory stream was studied during 7-d experiments. Two drift rates (5 and 10 organisms/min) and three ratios (1:1, 2:1, 5:1) of small:large alternative prey were employed. Responses to prey species stabilized after 4–6 d and 800–1200 prey captures, but no prey was completely excluded from the diet. Size-selective predation was a dominant characteristic of the response. The fish appeared to alter the area (depth) searched in response to prey density; electivity was greatest when prey densities were high. Disproportionate predation on abundant prey ("switching") was a temporary phenomenon, which may have been masked by prey size. Brown trout ultimately achieved 54–91% of a hypothetical diet in which prey are ranked in order of size (energy content). Deviations from an optimal diet may be explained in terms of a feeding strategy that deals with heterogeneous distribution of prey, as well as with the behavioral capabilities of the predator. Key words: behavior, fish, invertebrate drift, optimal foraging, predation, prey size and abundance, Salmonidae, search image, streams

The time required to handle different-sized prey (crickets) was measured in an artificial stream for eight wild brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) in two size classes (mean total lengths, 186 and 214 mm). Handling times (HTs) scaled by mouth size were described by an exponential equation: HT = 1 + 0.84e2.35(ps/ms) (ps, prey size; ms, predator (mouth) size). Cost curves based on handling time/prey weight were used to predict optimal prey lengths of 22 mm for small trout and 24 mm for large trout. A second model based on J. W. J. Wankowski's empirical results predicted slightly smaller optima. Physical constraints provided estimated minimum prey lengths of 2.8 and 3.2 mm for large and small fish, respectively; maximum prey lengths were 89 and 97 mm, respectively. We compared the predicted optimal prey size with the size distribution of invertebrates in drift and brown trout stomachs sampled in a second-order stream from July to September 1982. The most abundant prey sizes in the study stream were near the minimum size that can be effectively handled by brown trout. Prey of the predicted optimum size were rare, but feeding was size selective in spite of a limited food resource. The growth rates of these stream-dwelling brown trout were slower than the brown trout in other streams in this region. This may reflect diets consisting largely of suboptimal-sized prey.

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