Feeding Ecology of Small African Freshwater Shrimp Macrobrachium dux (Lenz, 1910) (Crustacea, Palaemonidae) in Cavally River, Cote dIvoire

The diet study included 133 specimens of Macrobrachium dux (56 males and 77 females) from the experimental dip net fishery. They were monthly harvested between September 2015 and August 2016. The results of Relationship between intestine length (Li) and standard length (LS) in Macrobrachium dux showed that the length of the intestine of individuals of this species is almost equal to standard length and grows proportionally to their size. Qualitative analysis showed that M. dux is an omnivorous species. It eats vegetable debris as fibers, fruits and phytoplanctons. It also eats animal debris such as insectes, crustaceans, annelids and plathyhelminthes. Concerning quantitative analysis, general food composition showed that this diet mainly consisted of animal debris. This animal fraction was dominated by insects ( % FI = 42.85). Further study of the food ecology of this species taking into account sex, seasons and size classes gave the same results. M. dux is an omnivorous species that uses variable resources but with a preference for insects