Trophic ecology of Brycon henni (Pisces: Characidae) in the Portugal de Piedras river, upper Cauca basin, Colombia

The trophic ecology of the sabaleta Brycon henni on the Portugal de Piedras river, department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia was studied during a 9 months period (October 2008 - June 2009). Exploratory fishing, were carried out to determine the physical and chemical parameters of the habitat. The captured fishes were gutted, and the contents of the gut were determined to the nearest taxon. The diet of this species included 35 alimentary categories, the trend leaned towards larvae and nymphs of aquatic insects of whom the most common species found were members of the Trichoptera, Diptera and Odonata; allochthonous organisms were also found to be part of the diet of the B. henni, such as ants, beetles and vegetal material such as fruits, leaves and seeds. The ratio between gut length Vs. standard length indicates that the species shows the features of a carnivore species (LI = -13.8728 + 1.02377*LS, r= 0.35, n= 22), in turn the total weight depended directly on the total length and standard length of the fish (PT = -49.308 + 0.609962*LT; r= 0.92 n=30; PT = -41.6011 + 0.672529*LS; r= 0.89, n=30, respectively).