K.S.Anila Kumary

Department of Zoology, Kuriakose Gregorios College, Pampady, Kottayam-686502, Kerala, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 6   doi: 10.5376/ija.2015.05.0006
Received: 21 Feb., 2015    Accepted: 02 May, 2015    Published: 14 May, 2015

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Kumary, 2015, Food and feeding habits of Mugil cephalus of Kayamkulam estuary, Kerala, International Journal of Aquaculture, Vol.5, No.6: 1-3 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2015.05.0006)

Estimates of gut contents are important prerequisites for fishery biological investigations. Food and feeding habits of Mugil cephalus of Kayamkulam estuary (9⁰2’-9⁰19’N latitude and 76⁰26’-76⁰32’ E longitude) were observed on 160 specimens collected at monthly intervals during May-Dec.2010. The values of RLG varied between 2.1-3.35 indicating the omnivorous feeding habit of the fish. Feeding intensity analysis revealed the predominance of poorly fed fishes in the estuary. Proportion of actively fed fishes was maximum (33.34%) during October. Gut contents of the fish comprise diatoms, decayed organic matter, fresh and decomposing algal matter together with sand and mud. Diatoms contribute 58.94% of the total gut contents.

Feeding intensity; RLG; Gut contents; Mugil cephalus