Diet of Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) in relation to stocking of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), brown trout (Salmo trutta m. fario), and grayling (Thymallus thymallus)
Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate otter predation on stocked trout and grayling. The diet composition of piscivorous Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra) was studied on the stream Chotýšanka in central Bohemia using spraint (otter faeces) analysis during one winter period (90 days).
Stocking took place mostly in the second half of 2005. Around 5000 hatchery-reared brown trouts (Salmo trutta m. fario) of size about 10 cm, 600 graylings (Thymallus thymallus) of the same size and 480 rainbow trouts (Oncorhynchus mykiss) of size about 30 cm were stocked into the stream.
Spraints were collected in December 2005 and January 2006. We found and identified 1531 fish in the spraints.
The primary food source of otters was fish (almost 85 % of biomass). The main fish prey was small - sized, below 20 g in weight and 13 cm in length.
The bulk of otter's diet consisted of less - valued species, especially the gudgeon (Gobio gobio). Other frequently consumed fish species were the European chub (Squalius cephalus), the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), the European perch (Perca fluviatilis), the brown trout and the rainbow trout.
Consumption of stocked brown trout was 1,80 %, while cosumption of stocked rainbow trout was 10,90 % of biomass. Otters in this area consumed about 723 - 1446 brown trouts and 72 - 144 rainbow trouts during winter season, depending on the daily food intake (0,75-1,5 kg day-1 individual-1; three otter individuals on the sampled stretch of the stream).
We found no signs of grayling in collected spraints, which indicated no grayling consumption during winter season. We identified other remains of non-fish prey, such as amphibians (frogs) and crayfish.