Food Habits of Black Crappies, White Crappies, Yellow Perch and White Suckers in a Small Impoundment in Northeastern South Dakota

Crustaceans, aquatic insects and fish were the most important food items found in stomach samples. Black crappies depended on zooplankton and aquatic insects as their major food source as they occurred in all samples and were major food items in 70 percent and 40 percent respectively. Insects, zooplankton and fish were the major food items of white crappies. Insects were the dominant forage present in 54 percent of the samples while zooplankton and fish were dominant in 36 percent and 21 percent of the samples respectively. Perch relied on crayfish, fish and aquatic insects as their major food source. Aquatic insects and crayfish each were the dominant food item in 33 percent of the samples while fish were dominant in 25 percent. Microcrustaceans were the major food item in 75 percent of white suckers with detritus the dominant item in 25 percent. Young-of-the-year fish fed totally on zooplankton with the exception of largemouth bass which occasionally took aquatic insects. Black crappies and white crappies strongly selected Daphnia spp. White suckers did not exhibit a distinct pattern in the selection of Cladocerans