FOOD AND FEEDING HABIT OF SPINY EEL MACROGNATHUS PANCALUS (HAM-BUCH) FROM UPPER ASSAM
243 / 6
Authors
-
SANTOSHKUMAR SINGH ABUJAM
-
SORAM JITEN SINGH
-
SANJAY DAKUA
-
GOBIN PASWAN
-
A K SAIKIA
-
S P BISWAS
Abstract
The lowest value (0.57±0.06) of relative length of gut (RLG) of M. pancalus was found in 15-20 cm whereas the highest values (0.60±0.08) in 7-11 cm group. Gastro somatic index (GSI) ranged from 0.68 ±0.20 (January) to 2.47±0.89 (July) for males while from 0.54 ± 0.19 (December) to 2.89 ± 1.05 (August) for female. Fullness of gut was recorded as 21.27% (full); 9.92% (¾ full); 15.72% (½ full); 13.27% (¼ full); 19.77% (nearly empty) and 23% (empty). The active feeding (full & ¾ full) was recorded during monsoon, moderate (1/2 full) during pre-monsoon, poor (1/4 full and nearly full) during post monsoon and negligible during winter seasons. Gut content analysis revealed that insects were annually contributing to an average of 45.65 %; miscellaneous items including algal and fish eggs were 22.16 %; zooplankton (15.58 %); sand and mud (8.44 %); crustacean (3.99 %); annelids (2.69 %), and molluscs (1.49 %) of the total intake of food. In juveniles, most preferred food item was zooplanktonic organism (49.25 %), followed by insect larvae (27.94 %). Similarly, in adults, the insect larvae (36.48 %) were consumed heavily followed by zooplankton (22.53%). The highest index of pre-ponderance was claimed by insect larvae followed by zooplankton, miscellaneous included unidentified matter, algal and fish egg, sand and mud, crustaceans, annelids, and molluscs.
Key words: M. pancalus, RLG, fullness of gut, GSI, gut content analysis, index of pre-ponderance
References
Abdelghany, E. A. 1993. Food and feeding habits of Nile tilapia from the Nile River at Cairo, Egypt. pp. 447- 453. In: L. Reintertsen, A. Dahle, C. Jorgensen, R. Twinnereim (eds.), Fish Farm Technology, A. A. Balkema,
Rotterdam, The Netherland.
Ajayi, O. O. 1972. Biological studies on the family Bagridae (Pisces: Siluroidei) in Lake Kainji, Nigeria. M. Phil. Thesis, Univ. Ife, Nigeria, 150 p. Al-Hussany, A. H. 1949. On the functional morphology of the alimentary tract of some fishes in relation to differences in their feeding habits. Quart. J. Micr. Sci., 9(2): 190-240.
Alikunhi, K. H. 1952. On the food of young carp fry. J. Zool. Soc. India, 4: 77-84.
Bal, D. V. and Rao, K. V. 1984. Marine fisheries of India. Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 296p.
Bhatnagar, G. K. and Karamchandani, S. J.1970. Food and feeding habits of Labeo fimbriatus (Bloch) in river Narbada near Hoshangabad (M. P.). J. Inland Fish. Soc. India, 2: 30-50.
Bhuiyn, A. S., Afroz, S. and Zaman, T. 2006. Food and feeding habit of the juvenile and adult snakehead Channa punctatus (Bloch). J. Life Earth. Sci., 1 (2): 53-54.
Blaber, S. J. M. 1997. Fish and Fisheries of Tropical Estuaries. Champan and Hall, London, 388 p.
Blaber, S. J. M. 2000. Tropical Estuarine Fishes: Ecology, Exploitation and Conservation; Blackwell Science Ltd., 372 p.
Chatterjee, A. 1974. Studies on the biology of some carps. Ph.D. Thesis, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP) Report. 1998. Freshwater Fishes of Inia,
National Bureau Fish Genetic Resource, Lucknow and Zoo Outreach Organization Coimbatore, 327p.
Das, S. . and Moitra, S. K. 1956. Studies on the food of some common fishes of Uttar Pradesh, India. Proc. of the Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Part II, 26: 213-223.
Desai, V. R. 1970. Studies on the fishery and biology of Tor tor (Ham.) from River Narbada. J. Inland Fish. Soc. India, 2: 101-112.
Desai, V. R. 1992. Food of Tor tor (Hamilton) from four localities of India-A comparative analysis. Pun. Fish. Bull., 16(1): 45-48.
Dutta, S. P. S. 1989/1990. Food and feeding ecology of Mastacembelus armatus (Lecep) from Gadigarh stream, Jammu. Matsya, 15(16): 66-69.
Hajisamae, S., Chou, L. M. and Ibrahim, S. 2003. Feeding Habits and Trophic Organization of the Fish Commnity in Shallow Waters of an Impacted Tropical Habitat. Est. Coast Shelf Sci., 58: 89-98.
Houlihan, D., Boujard, T. and Jobling, M. 2001. Food Intake in Fish. Blackwell Science, Oxford, UK, 130-143.
Hynes, H. B. N. 1950. The food of freshwater sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus and Pygosteus pungitius) with a review of methods used in studies of the food of fishes. J. Anim. Ecol., 19: 36-58.
Ikusemiju, K. and Olaniyan, C. I. O. 1977. The food and feeding habits of the catfishes, Chrysichthys walker (Gunther), C. filamentosus (Boulenger) and C. nigrodigitatus (Lacepede) in the Lekki lagoon, Nigeria. J. Fish. Biol., 10: 105-112.
Kagwade, P. V. 1972. Food and feeding habits of Polynemus heptadactylus Cuv. and Val. Indian J. Fish., 16 (1 & 2): 188-197.
Khan, R. A. 1972: Studies on the biology of some important major carps. Ph.D. Thesis, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.
Khan, R. A. and Siddiqui, A. Q. 1973. Studies on the age and growth of rohu, Labeo rohita (Ham.) from a pond (Moat) and rivers Ganga and Yamuna. Proc. Indian Natl. Sci. Acad., 39 (3): 582-597.
Khan, M. S., Ambak, A. M. and Mohsin, A. K. M. 1988. Food and feeding biology of a tropical freshwater catfish, Mystus nemurus with
reference to its functional morphology. Indian J. Fish., 35: 78-84.
Khumar, F. and Siddiqui, M. S. 1989. Food and feeding habits of the carp Labeo calbasu Ham. In. North Indian waters. ACTA, Ichthyolgica Et Piscatoria, 19: 33-48.
Longhurst, A. R. 1957. The food of demersal fish of a West African estuary. J. Anim. Ecol., 26: 369-387.
Mitra, S. N. and Mahapatra, P. 1956. On the role of zooplankton in the nutrition of carp fry. Indian J. Fish., 3: 299-310.
Moyle, P. B. and Cech, J. J. 2000. Reproduction. In Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology, 4th Edn., Prentice Hall Inc., 123-144.
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 J. Fish., 8(1):54-59.
Nikolsky, G. V. 1963. Ecology of Fishes. Academic Press, London and New York, 352 p.
Nwadiaro, C. and Okorie, P. 1987. Feeding habits of the African Bagrid, Chrysichthys filamentous in a Nigerian Lake. Jap. J. Ichthyol., 33 (4): 376-383.
Ochi, Y., Sato, Y. and Yanagisaw, Y. 1999. Obligate feeding of cichlid eggs by Caecomastacembelus zebratus in Lake Tanganyika. J. Fish. Biol., 54: 450-459.
Pandey, K. and Shukla, J. P. 2005. Fish and Fisheries; Rastogi Publications, Meerut; 504 p.
Pillay, T. V. R. 1952. A preliminary biometric study of certain populations of Hilsa, Hilsa hilsa (Ham.). Pro. Indo.pac. Fish. Coun., Section II, S 2/8.
Raje, S. G. 2006. Some aspects of biology of catfishes Tachysurus caelatus (Valenciennes) and Osteogeneiosus militaris (Linnaeus) from Mumbai. Indian J. Fish., 53(3): 333-340.
Rao, L. M. and Rao, P. S. 2002. Food and Feeding Habits of Glossogobius giuris from Gosthani Estuary. Indian J. Fish, 49: 35-40.
Reddy, C. R. 1991. Some Biological Aspect of Sillago sihama from Karwar Waters; A Ph. D. Thesis Submitted to the Karnataka University.
Serajuddin, M. and Ali, R. 2005. Food and feeding habits of striped spiny eel, Macrognathus pancalus (Ham.). Indian J. Fish., 52 (1): 81-86.
Serajuddin M. and Mustafa, S. 1994. Feeding specialization in adult spiny eel, Mastacembelus armatus. Asian Fish. Sci., 7: 63-65.
Serajuddin, M., Khan, A. A. and Mustafa, S. 1998. Food and feeding habits of the spiny eel, Mastacembelus armatus. Asian Fish. Sci., 11: 271-278.
Suresh, V. R., Biswas, B. K., Vinci, G. K., Mitra, K. and Mukherjee, A. 2006: Biology and fishery of barred spiny eel, Macrognathus pancalus Hamilton. Acta Ichthyol.Piscat., 36 (1): 31-37.
Venkataraman, G. 1960. Studies on the food and feeding relationships of the inshore fishes off Calicut on the Malabar Coast. Indian J. Fish., 7 (2): 274-306.
Wijeyaratna, M. J. S. and Costa, H. H. 1987. The food, feeding and reproduction of the borneo mullet, Liza macrolepis (Smith) in a coastal estuary in Sri Lanka. Indian J. Fish., 34: 283-291. Wootton, R. J. 1998. Ecology of Teleost Fishes. 2nd edition. London: Kluwer Academic
Publishers. Fish and Fisheries Series, no. 24.
Downloads
Submitted
Published
Issue
Section
License
In case of publication of the article in the journal, author(s) are required to assign copyright to the Journal of the Inland Fisheries Society of India for its publication in any form/language including all media (print and electronic, or presently unknown), and exclusive right to use the matter for the life of the work (no time restriction on re use of matter).