Dec, 1921 



FOOD OF OHIO DARTERS 



51 



The diet also becomes more complex with the increase in size 

 of the fish. In all these respects Boleichthys resembles Percina 

 caprodes. It is remarkable that a fish feeding upon the bottom 

 and in the midst of so much organic debris should take so little 

 debris with its food. In sharp contrast to Cottogaster copelandi, 

 which also feeds upon the bottom but takes large quantities 

 of debris and algae, Boleichthys like a true but miniature game 

 fish selects only moving objects for food. 



Summary of Food Habits in Boleichthys fusiformis. 



1. Entomostraca are the chief food of the smaller specimens 

 but this gradually gives place to larger objects as the fish grows 

 older. 2. The diet becomes more complex with the increase in 

 age of the fish. 3. Amphipods, midge larvae and other insect 

 larvce become the important articles of food in the older 

 specimens. 



F. Etheostoma flabellare Rafinesque 



The food habits of this little game fish present some very 

 distinctive features. There are only traces of entomostracan 

 food taken in the smallest specimen. When only 13 mm. in 

 length its food consists entirely of may fly larvae and the larvae 

 of midges. The size of the food animals is surprising. Fre- 

 quently the entire stomach contents was found to consist of a 

 single larva tightly wadded in the stomach. The larva was 

 sometimes nearly as long as the fish. The size of the food 

 increased with the size of the fish when amphipods, beetle 

 larvae, caddis fly larvae and corixas were taken. Specimens from 

 the swift streams of the state and those from Lake Erie agreed 

 closely in their food habits but there was a total absence of 

 amphipods in the food of stream specimens. 



