Diet of farm-escaped sturgeon in the Yangtze River

The diet of farm-escaped sturgeon accidentally introduced into the Yangtze River ecosystem was investigated from samples collected over 10 days. The fish had consumed adequate quantities of natural food, with prey type related to fish body size. The fish were categorized according to their primary dietary component: demersal fish were most common prey of kaluga Huso dauricus and H. dauricus x Acipenser schrenckii hybrids of total length 120.3-188.7 cm. Shrimp Macrobrachium nipponensis made up the major portion of the diet of H. dauricus x A. schrenckii and Acipenser baerii x A. schrenckii of total length 91.1-106.8 cm. Gammarid amphipods were consumed by A. baerii x A. schrenckii of total length 35.0-81.2 cm. The body length of prey was proportional to the fork length of the sturgeon, Y = 0.19X-9.46, R-2 = 0.997. Escaped sturgeon had travelled at least 898 km downstream from the point of escape in the Yangtze River and were feeding on native macrobenthos and demersal fish