Otter diet in relation to fish availability in a fish pond in Hungary

The food composition of otters Lutra lutra (Linnaeus, 1758) was investigated in an artificially established fish pond of 12 ha in south-western Hungary between December 1991 and November 1994. In the fish pond fish farming was carried out with the introduction of different species during the first two years of the investi­gations, while the filling up of the pond with water and its planting did not come about in the third year. The diet of otters was examined by spraint analysis (873 samples). The most important prey of otters was fish amounting 40 to 100%; the variation was due to season, method of farming and density and composition of the fish stock available. There was a close relationship between the frequency of occur­rence of different fish species in the otter diet and the amount of fish available to the otters. The correlation coefficients (rp) were 0.56 (p < 0.05), 0.87 (p < 0.0001) and 0.93 (p < 0.0001) in the three years. Fish species that are predominant in the fish pond were the most frequent in the otter diet. Most of the fish eaten were below 50 g, ie 55, 88 and 90% respectively in the three years. Prey fish weighing more than 1000 g were found in scats only in the second year, and in a low proportion (1%). Economically important fish species constituted 33, 9 and 3% of the otter diet in the three years. The economic consequences of otter predation on fish are discussed.