Queensland Lungfish - Diet and Feeding Habits

Diet and Feeding Habits

The Queensland lungfish is primarily nocturnal, and is essentially carnivorous. In captivity it will feed on frogs, earthworms, pieces of meat, and pelleted food. In the wild its prey includes frogs, tadpoles, fishes, a variety of invertebrates, and plant material. No quantitative dietary data is available, but anecdotal observations clearly indicate that the diet of the lungfish changes with development. This is proven to be correlated with a change in dentition.

Lungfish larvae are bottom feeders. They eat micro crustaceans and small Tubifex worms, occasionally supplementing their diet with filamentous algae. Soft foods such as worms and plants are partially crushed with a few quick bites and then swallowed. In the adult lungfish, movement of the prey in and out of the mouth is accompanied by strong adduction of the jaws. This crushing mechanism is coupled with hydraulic transport of the food, achieved by movements of the hyoid apparatus, to position the prey within the oral cavity. The Queensland lungfish exhibits the most primitive version of these biomechanical feeding adaptations and behaviors.