BU Research Blog

Zooming in on Dietary Differences

Our next instalment of the ‘Photo of the Week’ series features Catherine Gutmann Roberts’ image of her research into the dietary differences of different species of fish.  The series is a weekly instalment, which features an image taken by our fantastic BU staff and students. The photos give a glimpse into some of the fascinating work our researchers have been doing across BU and the wider community.

This photo shows a caddisfly larva and a chironomid (non-biting midge) larva, just a couple of the macroinvertebrates, which were extracted from a young barbel gut. Barbel (Barbus barbus) is a species of fish that has been relocated from Eastern flowing rivers to Western flowing rivers in England for the purpose of recreational angling. This research will measure the dietary overlap and potential competition between the barbel and its native conspecifics, chub (Squalis cephalus), dace (Leuciscus leuciscus) and minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus). It will also determine which other factors affect diet, such as location, size of fish and their stage of development.

If you’d like find out more about the research or the photo itself then please contact Catherine.

This photo was originally an entry in the 2017 Research Photography Competition. If you have any other questions about the Photo of the Week series or the competition please email research@bournemouth.ac.uk