PREY SELECTION FOR THE EXOTIC CLADOCERAN BYTHOTREPHES-CEDERSTROEMI BY SELECTED LAKE ERIE FISHES

The importance of zooplankton in the diet of yellow perch (Perca flavescens), white perch (Morone americana), walleyes (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum), and white bass (M. chrysops) was assessed in the central basin of Lake Erie in 1985-1988. Zooplankton were collected by vertical hauls in 1987-1988 and fish with a rock-hopper trawl. Although copepods (calanoid and cyclopoid) were the major zooplankton in the plankton samples, they were not well represented in the fish diet. From 1985 through 1988, Cladocera became an increasingly important food-particularly a recent invader from Europe, Bythotrephes cederstroemi. It was a major component in the diet of yellow perch from June to October in both 1987 and 1988. The zooplankton consumption by white perch was more diverse until September, when B. cederstroemi became the major food item.