Feeding Habits of the Non-Native Mayan Cichlid, Mayaheros urophthalmus, in Estuarine Tributaries of Southwest Florida

Foraging habits of the non—native Mayan Cichlid (Mayaheros urophthalmus) were investigated in the tidal tributaries to the Estero Bay and Wiggins Pass estuaries in southwest Florida (USA) during 2011—2013. Dietary analysis was conducted by identifying contents in the digestive tracts of 747 fish and volumetrically measuring the food items. Detritus was the predominant food item by frequency (97–100%), volume (34–48%), and alimentary importance index (47–64%). Bivalves, gastropods, decapod and cirriped crustaceans, coleopterans, serpulid polychaetes, and fish scales frequently (>50%) occurred in samples but volume and importance differed among tributaries. Results indicate that the Mayan Cichlid in southwest Florida tidal tributaries is an opportunistic predator of hard—shelled invertebrates. Although there was considerable overlap in dietary composition, percent volume of food items was significantly different among tributaries during dry seasons. In each tributary, detritus was consumed in greater percentage during the dry season and benthic invertebrates were consumed in greater percentages during the wet season. Consumption of detritus, algae, and plant material may be incidental to predation on benthic invertebrates but more information is needed on digestion and assimilation of food items. Variability in diet among the tributaries in the current study and among other studies was presumably a function of habitat characteristics and the corresponding availability of prey types.

Participación comunitaria en la transferencia tecnológica de un sistema acuícola de peces nativos

Low-scale aquaculture can be a successful model in rural settings because it can reduce demand for products and job creation, but one of the limiting factors to establish these aquaculture systems is the weakness of the manage-ment of technological processes in fish production by farmers. It is therefore necessary to promote training and technology transfer to the productive sector in order to promote conditions of self-employment, food security and to include beneficiaries throughout the process. Technological transfer is a mechanism that can increase aquaculture productivity and boost its profits. This scenario sought to design and build an aquaculture system for tropical gar (Atractosteus tropicus) and Mayan cichlid (Mayaheros urophthalmus) culture, with the participa-tion of local skilled people through the technological transfer of aquaculture. This system was developed in a locality in the Centla Swamps in southeastern México from 2017 to 2019 in five phases: diagnosis, presentation, design and construction, implementation and monitoring. The transfer of technology for the culture of species was made possible by the advice of the working teams and the support of the inhabitants. It was identified that the participants had a change in their perception of aquaculture and acquired skills in this activity. Community participation is an essential part of technology transfer. Keywords: Tropical gar, Mayan cichlid, fisheries, capacity, adaptation.

Origins of functional connectivity in a human-modified wetland landscape

Spatial heterogeneity in habitat conditions within a landscape should influence degree of movement of species between natural and artificial environments. For wetland landscapes, this functional connectivity was predicted to emerge from the influence of spatiotemporal patterns of depth on permeability of habitat edges and distance and directedness of cross-habitat dispersal. We quantified how connectivity between canals and marshes of the Florida Everglades varies with species and landscape patterns bordering canals by using radio telemetry to measure movement of a native (Florida largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides floridanus) and a nonnative species (Mayan cichlid, Cichlasoma urophthalmus) common to canals. Both species moved similar distances inside canal networks, but Mayan cichlids dispersed outside of canals more frequently, at shallower conditions, and over greater distances than Florida largemouth bass. As topographic relief increased in marshes bordering canals, dispersal between these habitats decreased in distance and became more directed, with Florida largemouth bass sensitive to depth variability at a smaller spatial scale than Mayan cichlids. The way fish traits interact with submerged landscape structure to influence connectivity can serve as a basis for predicting potential impacts of artificial habitats that arise from dispersal outside their borders.