Feeding dynamics and reproductive biology of deep-bodied mojarra Gerres erythrourus (Bloch, 1791) along the Ratnagiri Coast, Maharashtra, India

Mahesh Shetkar; Vivek  Nirmale; Ravindra Pawar; Santosh  Metar; Bhaskar Bhosale

doi:10.21077/ijf.2025.72.3.165769-06

Authors

Mahesh Shetkar Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth Dapoli, College of Fisheries, Department of Fisheries Biology, Shirgaon, Ratnagiri, Maharshtra, India, 415629
Vivek Nirmale Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth Dapoli, College of Fisheries, Department of Fisheries Biology, Shirgaon, Ratnagiri, Maharshtra, India, 415629
Ravindra Pawar Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth Dapoli, College of Fisheries, Department of Fisheries Biology, Shirgaon, Ratnagiri, Maharshtra, India, 415629
Santosh Metar Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth Dapoli, College of Fisheries, Department of Fisheries Biology, Shirgaon, Ratnagiri, Maharshtra, India, 415629
Bhaskar Bhosale Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth Dapoli, College of Fisheries, Department of Fisheries Biology, Shirgaon, Ratnagiri, Maharshtra, India, 415629

https://doi.org/10.21077/ijf.2025.72.3.165769-06

Keywords:

Diet, feeding intensity, Spawning , Fecundity, Growth

Abstract

Biology of the deep-bodied mojarra Gerres erythrourus landed along the Ratnagiri coast, Maharashtra was studied from 678 individuals sampled during September 2023 to July 2024. Total length (TL) ranged between 6.8 to 25.3 cm. The length-weight relationship showed positive allometric growth in males and females. All morphometric measurements showed a high degree of correlation with total length. Mean length at sexual maturity for females was estimated at 17 cm total length (TL). The study indicated that G. erythrourus spawned twice during an extended spawning season and had a moderate fecundity ranging from 64579 to 297040 eggs. Gut content analysis revealed G. erythrourus to be an omnivorus fish, feeding mainly on polychaetes, amphipods, gastropods, bivalves, shrimp juveniles and mysids. The index of relative importance (IRI) values indicated that bivalves are the major diet components. This is the first comprehensive biological study of G. erythrourus along the Indian coast.

Keywords: Diet, Fecundity, Feeding intensity, Gerreidae, Spawning

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abowei, J. F. N. 2010. The condition factor, length-weight relationship and abundance of Ilisha africana (Block, 1795) from Nigeria. Adv. J. Food Sci. Technol., 2(1): 6-11.

Abu El-Nasr, T. M. 2016. Morphological observations, length-weight relationships, and condition factors of the whipfin fish, Gerres filamentosus (Cuvier, 1829) in the Hurghada Red Sea, Egypt. J. Biosci. Appl. Res. 2(7):458-469. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21608/jbaar.2016.108734

Araujo, F. G., Santos, A. C. and De, A. 1999. Distribution and recruitment of mojarras in the continental margin of Sepetiba Bay, Brazil. Bull. Mar. Sci., 65 (2):431–439.

Aziz, M., Ambily, V., and Bijoy Nandan, S. 2013. Age and growth of Gerres filamentosus (Cuvier, 1829) from Kodungallur, Azhikode estuary, Kerala. Afr. J. Agric. Res., 8: 4007-4014.

Babu, G. S., Sajeevan, M. K., Suryawanshi, U., Anjanayappa, H. N., Somashekara, S. R., Naik, A. K., Nayana, P., & Pathan, J. G. K. 2024. Food and feeding habits of Gerres filamentosus in the Cochin backwaters. Journal of Advances in Biology and Biotechnology. 27(6): 498–515. DOI: https://doi.org/10.9734/jabb/2024/v27i6910

Badrudeen, M. and Pillai, P. K. 1996. Food and feeding habits of the big-eyed mojarra, Gerres macracanthus (Bleeker, 1854) of the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar. Journal of Marine Biological Association of India. 38(1 & 2): 58-62.

Bagenal, T.B. and Braum, E., 1978. Eggs and early life history. In: Bagenal, T. (Ed.), Methods of Assessment of Fish Production in Fresh Waters. IBP Handbook., 165–201.

Baitha, R., Karna, S. K., Ray, A., Chanu, T. N., Swain, H. S., Ramteke, M. H., Bayen, S., Manna, R. K. and Das, B. K., 2018. Length–weight and length–length relationships of eight fish species from river Ganga, India. Journal of Applied Ichthyology., 34(4): 1052-1054. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jai.13698

Bal, D. V. and Rao, K. V. 1984. Marine fisheries. Tata Mc Graw Hill Publishing Ltd. 233 pp.

Bandkar D., Nirmale, V. H., Gurjar, U. R., Metar, S. Y., Pawar, R. A. and Chogale, N. D. 2022 Reproductive biology and feeding dynamics of the shrimp scad Alepes djedaba (Forsskal, 1775) from Ratnagiri, central west coast of India. Indian Journal of Fisheries. 69(1): 37- 44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21077/ijf.2022.69.1.109595-04

Batool, T. and Siddiqui, G. 2020. The seasonal variation in diet composition and feeding strategyof Grammoplites suppositus (Troschel, 1840) (Family: Platycephalidae) in relation to its sex and size. Indian Journal of Marine Sciences. 49(12): 1848-1855.

Bauchot, M. L. 1992. Gerreidae: fresh and Brackishwater Fishes of west Africa. 2: 691-693.

Beevi, A. R. 1998. Some aspects of reproductive biology of Gerres filamentosus (Cuvier,1829) Ph.D. Thesis, Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai.

Biswas, S. P. 1993. Manual of methods in fish biology. South Asian Publishers. 65-91.

Brown-Peterson, N. J., Wyanski, D. M., Saborido-Rey, F., Macewicz, B. J. and Lowerre- Barbieri, S. K. 2011. A standardized terminology for describing reproductive development in fishes. Marine and Coastal Fisheries. 3, 52–70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19425120.2011.555724

Chacko, P. I. 1949. Food and feeding habits of the fishes of the Gulf of Mannar. In Proceedings Indian Academy of Sciences. 29(3):83-97. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03049962

Cyrus, D. P. and Blaber, S. I. M. 1983. Diet of Gerres fry in the Kosi system. South African Journal of Zoology. 8: 403- 406. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02541858.1983.11447846

Cyrus, D. P. and Blaber, S. J. M. 1982. Species identification, distribution and abundance of Gerreidae (Teleostei, Bleeker, 1859) in the estuaries of Natal. South African Journal of Zoology. 17: 105-116 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02541858.1982.11447789

Cyrus, D. P. and Blaber, S. J. M., 1984. The reproductive biology of Gerres spp. in Natal estuaries. Journal of Fish Biology. 24, 491–504. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1984.tb04820.x

Desai, V. R. 1970. Studies on the fishery and biology of Tor tor (Hamilton, 1822) from river Narmada. Journal of the Inland Fisheries Society of India. 2(5): 101-112.

Dwivedi, S. N. and Menezes, M. R. 1974. A note on the morphometry and ecology of Brachirus orientalis (Bloch and Schneider) in the estuaries of Goa. Geobios, 1: 80-83.

Fisher, W. and Bianchi G. 1984. FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Indian Ocean; (Fishing Area 51). Rome: Food and Agricultural Organisation.

Froese, R. 2006. Cube law, condition factor and weight length relationships: history, meta- analysis and recommendations. Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 22: 241-253. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0426.2006.00805.x

Froese, R., & Pauly, D. (Eds.). 2023. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. Retrieved from http://www.fishbase.org. (Accessed from 22 December, 2024).

Garcia, D. A. Z., Vidotto-Magnoni, A. P. and Orsi, M. L. 2018. Diet and feeding ecology of nonnative fishes in lentic and lotic freshwater habitats. Aquatic Invasions, 13: 565- 573. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3391/ai.2018.13.4.13

Garrido, S., Murta, A. G., Moreira, A., Ferreira, M. J., and Angelicon, M. M. 2008. Horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) stomach fullness off Portugal: index calibration and Spatiotemporal variations in feeding intensity. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 65(9): 1662- 166. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsn169

Golikatte, R. G. 2002. Some biological aspects and fishery of the whipfin silverbiddy Gerres filamentosus (Cuvier, 1829) from Sharavati estuary, central west coast of India. Ph.D. thesis, Karnataka University, Karwar

Golikatte, R. G., and Bhat, U. G. 2011. Food and feeding habits of the whipfin silverbiddy Gerres filamentosus from Sharavati estuary, central west coast of India. World Journal of Science and Technology. 1(2): 26-28.

Gopi, K. C. and Mishra, S. S. 2015. Diversity of marine fish of India. In, Venkataraman, K. and Sivaperuman, C. (eds.), Marine Faunal Diversity in India: Taxonomy, Ecology and Conservation. Academic Press, Elsevier Inc., USA: 171-193. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801948-1.00012-4

Hadj Taieb, A., Sley, A., Ghorbel, M., and Jarboui, O. 2013. Feeding habits of Sparusaurata spp. (Sparidae) from the Gulf of Gabes (central Mediterranean). Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 54:263-270.

Hashemi, S. H., Salarpouri, A., Kiamrani, E., and Danehkar, A. 2012. Growth parameters and mortality rates of whipfin silverbiddy (Gerres filamentosus) and longtail silver-biddy (Gerres longirostris) from creeks of Hara protected area in Jask, Iran. Iranian Journal of Fisheries Sciences. 20: 139-150.

Hosny, C. F. H. and Al-Jaber, A. M. 2017. Reproductive biology of Gerres longirostris, Lacepede, 1801 (Perciformes: Gerreidae) in the western Arabian Gulf. Indian Journal of Fisheries. 64(2):10-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21077/ijf.2017.64.2.58421-02

Hussain, S. M., Paperno, R., Khatoon, Z. 2010. Length–weight relationships of fishes collected from the Korangi-Phitti Creek area (Indus delta, northern Arabian Sea). Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 26: 477-480. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0426.2009.01374.x

Hynes, H. B. N. 1950. The food of fresh-water sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus and Pygosteus pungitius), with a review of methods used in studies of the food of fishes. Journal of Animal Ecology. 36-58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1570

Iqbal, K. M., Masuda, Y., Suzuki, H. and Shinomiya, A., 2006. Age and growth of the Japanese silver-biddy, Gerres equulus, in western Kyushu, Japanese Fisheries Research. 77:45-52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2005.10.001

Isa, M. M., Abdul Basri, M. N., Mohd Zawawi, M. Z., Yahya, K. and Md Nor, S. A. 2012. Length-weight relationships of some important estuarine fish species from Merbok estuary, Kedah. Journal of Natural Sciences Research. 2: 8-17.

IUCN, 2023. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2023-2.

Iwatsuki, Y., Kimura, S. and Yoshino, T. 1998. Redescription of Gerres erythrourus (Bloch, 1791), a Senior Synonym of Gerres abbreviatus (Bleeker, 1850 (Teleostei: Perciformes: Gerreidae). Copeia. 1:165-172. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1447713

Iwatsuki, Y., Kimura, S. and Yoshino, T. 2001. Redescription of Gerres longirostris (Lacepede, 1801) and Gerres oblongus Cuvier in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1830, included in the Gerres longirostris complex (Perciformes: Gerreidae). Copeia. 4: 954- 965. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1643/0045-8511(2001)001[0954:ROGLLD]2.0.CO;2

Jhingran, V.G. and Natarajan, A. V. 1966. Final report on the fisheries of the Chilka lake (1957-65). Bulletin of the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute. 8:1-39.

Jisr, N., Younes, G., Sukhn, C. and El-Dakdouki, M. H. 2018. Length weight relationships and relative condition factor of fish inhabiting the marine area of the Eastern Mediterranean city, Tripoli-Lebanon, Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Research. 44 (4): 299-305. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejar.2018.11.004

Kamikawa, K. T., Cruz, E., Essington, T. E., Hospital, J., Brodziak, J. K. T. and Branch, T.A. 2015. Length weight relationships for 85 fish species from Guam. Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 31:1171-1174. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jai.12877

Kanak, M. K. and Tachihara, K. 2006. Age and growth of Gerres oyena (Perciformes: Gerreidae) in Okinawa Island of Southern Japan. Fisheries Science. 72: 932-938. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1444-2906.2006.01240.x

King, M. 1995 Fisheries Biology: Assessment and Management. Fishing News Books Publ., Oxford UK, 341pp.

Krishna, N. M., Govindarao, V. and Venu, D., 2015. Length-weight relationships for some rock pool fishes off Visakhapatnam, east coast of India. International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies. 2: 139-140.

Kuganathan, S. 2006. Population dynamics of Gerres abbreviatus (Bleeker, 1850) from the Parangipettai waters, southeast coast of India. Sri Lanka. Journal of Aquatic Sciences. 11:1-19 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4038/sljas.v11i0.2219

Kurup, B. M. and Samuel, C. T. 1987. Length-weight relationship and relative condition factor in Daysciaena albida and Gerres filamentosus. Fishery Technology. 24: 88-92.

Lagler, K. F., Bardach, J. E. and Miller, R. R. 1962. Ichthyology. The study of Fishes, (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York), 1962, 545pp.

Lamtane, H. A., Pratap, H. B. and Ndaro, S. M. G. 2007. Reproductive biology of Gerres oyena (Pisces: Gerreidae) along the Bagamoyo coast, Tanzania. Journal of Marine Science. 6(1): 29-35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/wiojms.v6i1.48224

Le Cren, E. D. 1951. The length-weight relationship and seasonal cycle in gonad weight and condition in the perch (Perca fluviatilis). Journal of Animal Ecology. 20(2): 201-219. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1540

Mamuris, Z., Apostolidis, P., Panagiotaki, P., Theodorou, A. J. and Triantaphyllidisdir, C. 1998. Morphological variation between red mullet populations in Greece. Journal of Fish Biology. 52(1):107-117. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1998.tb01556.x

Manon, M. R., & Hossain, M. D. 2011. Food and feeding habit of Cyprinus carpio var. specularis. Journal of Scientific Foundations. 9(1&2):163-181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/jsf.v9i1-2.14658

Martin, P., Kuppan, A. and Kalaichelvi, N. 2016. Length-weight relationship of pelagic marine fishes in east coastal region, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. India. International Journal of Current Research in Biological and Medical Sciences. 1: 1-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22192/ijcrbm.2016.01.09.001

Mendes, B., Fonseca, P. and Campos, A., 2004. Weight length relationships for 46 fish species of the Portuguese west coast. Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 20: 355-361. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0426.2004.00559.x

Mishra, S. S., Saren, S. C. and Sengupta, A. 2018. First record of Gerres infasciatus (Iwatsuki and Kimura 1998) (Perciformes: Gerreidae) from north-eastern coast of Indian Record of the Zoological Survey of India. 118(2): 202-205. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v118/i2/2018/119983

Narasimhaiah N., Rajashekar K. P., Shivaprakash S. M. and Tenjing S. Y. 2020. Allometry and condition factor of whip fin silverbiddy, Gerres filamentosus from Mangalore coast, Karnataka, India. Indian Journal of Animal Research. 55(3):324-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18805/IJAR.B-3983

Natarajan, A. V. and Jhingran, A. G. 1961. Index of preponderance - a method of grading the food elements in the stomach analysis of fishes. Indian Journal of Fisheries. 8(1): 54- 59.

Natarajan, S., Subrahmanyan, S., Santhanam, R. and Thangavel, B. 2011. Morphometric studies on wild caught and cultured shrimp Penaeus monodon (Fabricius, 1798) from Parangipettai, Indian Journal of Advances in Applied Scientific Research. 2, 490-507.

Nelson, J. S. 2016. Fishes of the world. Fifth edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.752pp.

Osman, M. A. A., El Ganainy, A. A. A., Khouriba, H. H. M., and Aly, M. M. 2020. Some reproductive aspects of the common silverbiddy Gerres Oyena (Forsskal, 1775) from the Gulf of Suez, Red Sea, Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries. 29 (5): 1090-1096.

Patnaik, S. 1971. Observations on the fishery and biology of Chilka Jagili, Gerres setifer (Hamilton, 1822). Journal of the Inland Fisheries Society of India. 3:25-43.

Pawase, S. V., Nirmale, V. H., Bhosale, B. P., Pawar, R. A., Sawant, M. S. and Kende, D. R. 2020. Study on biology of Thryssa dussumieri (Valenciennes, 1848) from the coast of Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, India. Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences. 49 (01): 87-94.

Pinkas, L. M., Oliphant, S. and Iverson, I. L. K. 1971. Food habits of albacore, Bluefin tuna and bonito in Californian waters. California Department of Fish and Game Fish Bulletin. 152, 1–105.

Putri, A. K., Nazal, M. F. and Simanjuntak, C. P. H. 2022. Diet and feeding strategy of the common silver-biddy, Gerres oyena (Forsskal, 1775) in the seagrass beds of Karang Congkak Island, Kepulauan Seribu National Park. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science Publishing. 1036(1):012021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1036/1/012021

Rakhunde, A. V., Nirmale, V. H., Pawar, R. A., Metar, S. Y. and Bhosale, B. P. 2023. Biology of the cleft belly trevally Atropus atropos (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) from Ratnagiri coast of India. Indian Journal of Fisheries. 70(2):33-40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21077/ijf.2023.70.2.131346-4

Randall, J. E. 1995. Coastal fishes of Oman. Honolulu: University of Hawaii press; 439pp.

Rao, A.V. 1968. Observations on the food and feeding habits of Gerres oyena (Forskal, 1775)and Gerres filamentosus (Cuvier, 1829) from the Pulicat Lake with notes on the food of allied species. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India. 10(2):332-346.

Renuka, G. and Bhat, U. G. 2011. Fecundity of whipfin silverbiddy Gerres filamentosus (Cuvier) from Sharavati estuary, central west coast of India. Records of Research in Science and Technology. 3(4): 71-74.

Renuka, G. and Bhat, U. G. 2011. Length-weight relationship of whip fin silver biddy Gerres filamentosus (Cuvier, 1829) from Sharavathi estuary, central west coast of India. Records of Research in Science and Technology. 3: 75-79.

Sarman, V., Hitesh, K., Vinaykumar, V., Mahendra, P. and Piyush, V. 2018. Biological aspects of threadfin bream Nemipterus japonicus (Bloch, 1791) along coast of Saurashtra, Gujarat. Journal of Fisheries and Life Sciences. 3(1): 34-38.

Sarre, G.A., Hyndes, G.A., Potter, I.C., 1997. Habitat, reproductive biology and size composition of Parequula melbournensis, a gerreid with a temperate distribution. Journal of Fish Biology. 50, 341–357. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1997.tb01362.x

Shalloof, K. A. S. and Khalifa, N. 2009. Stomach contents and feeding habits of Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758) from Egypt. World Applied Sciences Journal. 6:1- 05.

Sinha, R. K. 1995. Some aspects of biology of freshwater catfish Clarius batrachus (Linnaeus, 1758) of the Bombay region, M.Sc. Thesis. Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai, India, 74 pp.

Sivashanthini, K. 2008. Length-weight relationships and condition of gerreids (Pisces: Gerreidae) from the Parangipettai waters (SE coast of India). Asian Fisheries Science. 21(4): 405-419. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33997/j.afs.2008.21.4.005

Sivashanthini, K., Charles, G. A. and Shutharshan, S. 2008. Fecundity studies of Gerres abbreviatus (Bleeker, 1850) from the Jaffna lagoon, Sri Lanka. Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 3(5):320-327. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3923/jfas.2008.320.327

Talwar, P. K. and Kacker, R. K. 1984. Commercial Sea Fishes of India. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. Hand Book (4): 997 pp.

Talwar, P.K. and Jhingran, A.K. 1991. Inland fishes of India and adjacent countries. Oxford and IBH Publishing Company, New Delhi, 2: 543-1158.

Weatherly, A. H. 1979. Growth and ecology of fish population. Academic press Inc. Ltd, London, UK, 75 pp.

Woodland, D. J. 2001. Gerreidae, Mojarras (silverbiddies). In Carpenter, K.E. and Niem, V.H.(Eds.), FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. 5(3): 2946-2960.

Wootton, R. 1990. Ecology of teleost fishes. Chapman & Hall. London. 404pp. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0829-1

Zar, J. H., 2005. Biostatistical analysis, fourth edition, Person education (Singapore) Pvt. Ltd., Indian branch, Delhi. 633pp.