Diet in phenotypically divergent sympatric species of African weakly
electric fish (genus: Campylomormyrus) – a hybrid capture/HTS
metabarcoding approach
Abstract
Ecological speciation within the mormyrid genus Campylomormyrus resulted
in sympatric species exhibiting divergence in their feeding apparatus
and electric organ discharge (EOD). This study documents the overall
diet of the genus Campylomormyrus and examines the hypothesis that
Campylomormyrus radiation is caused by an adaptation to different food
sources. We performed diet assessment of five sympatric Campylomormyrus
species (C. alces, C. compressirostris, C. curvirostris, C. tshokwe, C.
numenius) and their sister taxon Gnathonemus petersii with markedly
different snout morphologies and EODs using hybrid capture/HTS DNA
metabarcoding of their stomach contents. Our approach allowed for high
taxonomic resolution of prey items, including benthic invertebrates,
allochthonous invertebrates, and vegetation. Comparisons of the diet
compositions using quantitative measures and diet overlap indices
revealed that all species are able to exploit multiple food niches in
their habitats, i.e., fauna at the bottom, the water surface, and the
water column. Major part of the diet is larvae of aquatic insects, such
as dipterans, coleopterans, and trichopterans, known to occur in holes
and interstitial spaces of the substrate. The results showed that
different snout morphologies and the associated divergence in the EOD
translate into different prey spectra. This suggests that the
diversification in EOD and the morphology of the feeding apparatus is
under functional adaptation.