Plagioscion squamosissimus (Heckel, 1840) was studied in five stretches in Paranapanema and Tibagi rivers under the influence of the Capivara reservoir. The samplings were made on a monthly basis during the 1992/1993 and 1994/1995 periods and seasonally during the 2001/2002 period. The captures were made with gillnets with meshes varying between 2 and 12 cm. A total of 993 specimens had their stomach analyzed. The identified food items were grouped in trophic categories and analyzed by the percent composition method. The diet composition was compared among sampling periods and among stretches by the similarity analysis using the Bray-Curtis' coefficient. The results indicated that the consumption of food items was uniform in all periods and stretches analysed. The food items found were grouped in six categories: fishes, shrimp, Odonata, Ephemeroptera, other insect groups and "others" (plant material, detritus and rarely-found organisms). In all stretches and during all the studied periods, P. squamosissimus presented a carnivorous diet, and during the 2001/2002 period the item shrimp (Macrobrachium amazonicum) represented the largest portion of the diet. Concomitant with the shift from fish to shrimp, there were also changes in feeding behavior, shown by the changes in feeding frequency in food taking and in the variety of consumed food items. A large number of prey individuals were found in the stomach contents when P. squamosissimus fed on shrimp, with most specimens feeding exclusively on this food item.
Introduced species; pescada-do-Piauí; non-native fish; freshwater; predation
