Comments on the diet of Asplanchna priodonta(Gosse, 1850) in the Dobczycki dam reservoir on the basis of field sample observations

During a monitoring programme the diet composition of Asplanchna priodontawas studied. Samples were collected every month from the deepest part of the Dobczycki dam reservoir (Southern Poland). The diet of A. priodonta, which included colonial cyanobacteria, diatoms, dinoflagelates and protozoa, indicated that it is both a grazer and a predator. These results support the hypothesis that A. priodontais an opportunistic feeder. Additionally these results include the first observations of the protozoan Tintinnopsissp. as a food source of Asplanchna.