Zooplankton capturing by Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Teleostei: Cichlidae) throughout post-larval development

ABSTRACT The Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758), uses filter feeding and visual predation to catch prey. In filter feeding, the mucus secreted in their gill rakers traps planktonic organisms. In visual predation, the fish spot and capture food, eating it directly. At different ontogenetic stages, the Nile tilapia may impact the zooplankton community differently, since it changes how it captures its prey. The objective in this study was to verify which zooplankton groups contribute to the diet of O. niloticus at the post-larval stage, and if the way they capture food may deter...