Food and feeding habits of Tilapia aurea (Steindachner) (Cichlidae) in Lake Kinneret (Israel)

An analysis of the food of 274 specimens of Tilapia aurea (Steindachner), which had been collected in Lake Kinneret, showed that this species is mainly a zooplankton consumer.A study of the quantitative dynamics of the food components in the course of a year has proved that the species in question feeds more intensely in spring, this being the time when zooplankton forms are more abundant in the water of the lake. Vegetable detritus, mixed with plankton and benthos forms, served as additional and alternative food.The lack of clearly positive degree of food component selectivity, as well as the low values of the intestine repletion index and of the condition coefficient, account for the slowness in growth of Tilapia aurea in Lake Kinneret.The low values of the growth and feeding indices are due, according to the authors, to the pressure brought to bear by the other local fish species, which are competitors for the same food.