Biometric data are presented for common freshwater fish species in England and Wales. These enable the lengths and weights of fish in the diet of piscivorous fauna to be estimated from measurements of bones and scales that are recovered from faeces and stomach contents. Use of these data was demonstrated by reconstructing the length composition of species in the diet of cormorants from their faeces and an otter from its stomach contents. Both species were shown to be exploiting common size classes of abundant fish species in their home range.
Analysis of the stomach contents of otters recovered from South West England between 1999 and 2003 revealed that prey items taken were principally species of fish and amphibians, with mammals and birds occasionally taken. The fork length of fish recorded was 30 to 720 mm. Eel Anguilla anguilla was the dominant prey item, with up to five present per stomach. Estimated lengths ranged from 100 to 450 mm. Other common prey items were bullhead Cottus gobio and brown trout Salmo trutta. In addition to these freshwater species, there were recordings of sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax and thick lipped mullet Chelon labosus, indicating foraging in both freshwater and marine habitats. A seasonal peak was observed in the relative frequency of amphibians in diet, as otters took advantage of spawning aggregations. However, there were no seasonal trends in the relative frequency of other species in otter diet, with eel, bullhead and cyprinid species taken regularly in all months.