See the prior post and referenced study.
Our data from
Virginia implicated juvenile bluegills as the major
predators on bluegill larvae, followed in importance
by pumpkinseed. Dominey (1981)
drew the same conclusions from a New York....
Bluegills( 3-12 cm total length)w ere the most abundant nest predators Pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus (7• -11 cm),largemouth bass M icropterus salmoides(4- 5 cm),and whitefin
shiners Notropis niveus(5 -6 cm) also were nest predators.
LMB are also a predator of yoy BG but not in anywhere near the number.
The process works like this : BG spawn and most of the eggs to swim-up + sized fry are eaten by small BG (1-4.5 inches) which in turn are eaten by the many small LMB which in turn are eaten by the few large LMB.
.gif)
