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16 <br />Food Items <br />Se s ton <br />Seston consisted of primary producers or parts thereof; diatoms and <br />microfragments from vascular plants (<0.1035 mm long) and green and blue- <br />green algae along with very fine inorganic sediments. Occasional larger <br />fragments from vascular plants were present in stomachs of seston feeders <br />but were accounted for in macrofragments. <br />Diatoms (Navicula and Gomphonema), green algae (Cladophora and <br />Stigeoclonium), and blue-green algae (Oscillatoria) dominated the seston. <br />These are sessile and benthic but can become part of the plankton when <br />washed off the substrate. They grow on the river bottom or are epiphytic <br />(on vascular plant surfaces) and can become an important component of the <br />water column drift community. Items in this food category were probably <br />fed upon in the drifting planktonic phase because very fine particles would <br />remain in suspension more readily than coarser particles such as debris. <br />Seston was consumed only by non-endangered species. YOY C. discobolus <br />consumed significantly more seston than other fish over all strata. Adult <br />Pimephales consumed significantly more than other fish at Strata A, B, C, <br />and E; YOY Pimephales, Stratum V11; YOY C. latipinnis, Stratum X; Adult <br />and YOY Pimephales and C. discobolus, Stratum VI; Adult and YOY Pimephales, <br />Stratum F; and YOY C. discobolus consumed significantly more than all fish <br />except Adult Pimephales at Stratum IX. <br />Macrofragments <br />This category contained larger pieces of plant fragments,? 0.1035 mm <br />in length,and a few seeds. Some macroplant pieces were found in the seston <br />but were considered as coarser items because of the visible cell wall.