Comprehensive study of the food ecology of macrobrachium macrobrachion (herklots, 1851) in Cote D’ivoire
International Journal of Development Research
Comprehensive study of the food ecology of macrobrachium macrobrachion (herklots, 1851) in Cote D’ivoire
Received 09th September, 2018; Received in revised form 21st October, 2018; Accepted 06th November, 2018; Published online 26th December, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Kouamé Toto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Expanding knowledges of the food ecology of Macrobrachium macrobrachion is the main purpose of this research. It permited to complete our knowledges of the distribution of this shrimp in natural habitats. These knowledges will also facilitate its reproduction in the breeding environment. Shrimps were caught monthly between September 2015 and august 2016. They come from an experimental dip net fishery. The study of the diet focused on 77 specimens. The results obtained revealed that this species consumes both animal and plant prey. The dietary index (FI) calculated in relation to the general food profile, has shown that his diet consists mainly of animal debris. This animal fraction was dominated by insects (%FI = 58.86). The study of the food ecology of this species taking into account space, sex and size classes gave the same results. M. macrobrachion is an omnivorous species that uses variable resources but with a preference for insects. This diet is less restrictive and is favorable for its breeding in an artificial environment.
