Relative intestine length and feeding ecology of freshwater fishes

There is a significant relationship between the intestine length (Y) and total body length (X) for 11 species of freshwater fish (Y = 0.08X1.42). Sufficient variation exists about this relationship to indicate important differences among the species' diets. The diets for each species, ranked on a Trophic Index scale determined from literature data, are negatively rank order correlated with the mean relative intestine lengths (rs = -0.67). There is no significant rank order correlation between the Trophic Indices determined from data on stomach contents and the mean relative intestine lengths for fish from a single creek.