Sxc^toi^ ^UaaXixM 



STOMACH CONTENTS 



The lengths, weights, and numbers of fish collected for quantitative 

 stomach analysis are presented in table 42. Most of the fish were at least 

 two years old. Fingerlings and fry of sturgeon, burbot, sauger, and goldeye 

 were not captured. The results of stomach contents analyses are given in 

 tables 43-50 and in appendix F. 



TABLE 42. Numbers, lengths, and weights of fish collected for stomach analysis. 



All sturgeon stomachs contained food items. Digestion in the sturgeon 

 was apparently slow, because food organisms were usually intact and relatively 

 easy to identify. At the other extreme, digestion in the sauger stomachs was 

 rapid; only 43 of 114 stomachs contained food, much of which was difficult or 

 impossible to identify. 



SAUGER 



Small forage fish were, in general, the dominant staple of the larger 

 sauger (table 43). Channel catfish fry were the most abundant of the forage 

 fish in the diet. Although the channel catfish is a game species, for the 

 purpose of this study, any fish of sufficiently small size to be ingeested 

 by predators is considered a forage fish. Catfish volume was exceeded by 

 that of flathead chub, longnose dace (Rhiniahthys cataractae) , and stonecats 

 (Noturus flavus). Most of the unidentified fish and fish remains, 38.4 per- 

 cent of the volume, probably consisted of species listed in table 43. Except 



121 



