Food and Feeding Habits of Indian Mackerel (Rastrelliger Kanagurta) in the Southern Part of Qeshm Island, Persian Gulf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Iranian Journal of Fisheries Sciences 19(2) 563-573 2020 DOI: 10.22092/IJFS.2018.120058. Food and feeding habits of Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) in the southern part of Qeshm Island, Persian Gulf Hakimelahi M.1,2*; Savari A.1; Doustshenas B.1; Ghodrati Shojaei M.3; Lewis K.A.4 Received: December 2017 Accepted: February 2018 Abstract The study investigated the stomach contents of Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) from the southern part of Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf from April 2016 through March 2017. The food and feeding behavior of R. kanagurta with a fork length of 17.8 to 22.5 cm was assessed from the analysis of gut contents. The frequency of occurrence and numeric methods were used for stomach content analysis. R. kanagurta fed on diatoms, dinoflagellates, crustaceans, molluscs, forams and ciliates. Organisms of plant origin including diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) and dinoflagellates (Dinophyceae) were the main prey constituting about 72% of food items by number and 66.67% by the occurrence. Coscinodiscus sp. were found to be the most preferable food of plant origin constituting 46.92% by number and 12.88% by occurrence, followed by Guinardia sp. which constituted 9.74% and 7.58% by number and occurrence, respectively. Among zooplankton, crustaceans were the dominant prey contributing to 19.58% of the food items by number and 24.61% by occurrence. Copepoda was the most preferable crustacean constituting 7.57% by occurrence and 5.72% by number. Gastro-Somatic Index (GaSI) was found to be the highest in autumn and the least in Downloaded from jifro.ir at 5:15 +0330 on Wednesday September 29th 2021 winter that is before and after the spawning season. The stomach emptiness index was 36.15% indicating the comparatively gluttonous behavior of the fish. Overall R. kanagurta in the southern part of Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf is planktonivorous and feeds on a wide range of planktonic organisms. Keywords: Indian mackerel, Feeding habit, Stomach contents, Frequency of occurrence, Numerical method, Persian Gulf. 1-Department of Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Science and Oceanography, Khorramshahr University of Marine Science and Technology, Khorramshahr, Iran. 2-Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science, Tehran, Iran. 3-Department of Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, Mazandaran, Iran. 4-Department of Biology, St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, Maryland, USA. *Corresponding author's Email: [email protected] 564 Hakimelahi et al., Food and feeding habits of Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) in… Introduction microlepidotus. Several studies have Fish like any other organisms rely on targeted different aspects of the biology the energy received from food to of R. kanagurta. This species has been perform biological processes such as subjected to different biological growth, reproduction and other investigations including reproduction metabolic activities. Hence, food is the (e.g. Collette and Nauen,, 1983; basis for all functions performed by Moazzam et al., 2005); and length- individual taxa as well as populations weight relationships (e.g. Edwards and (Bal and Rao, 1990). Feeding is one of Shaher, 1991; Abdurahiman et al., the leading concerns of daily living in 2004). Similarly several studies have fishes, in which the fish devotes a focused on the feeding ecology of significant portion of its energy Indian mackerel (R. kanagurta) in searching for food (Hajisamae et al., different regions including Asia 2003). Detailed data on the diet, feeding (Nayak, 2003; Moazzam et al., 2005; ecology and trophic inter-relationship is Bagheri et al., 2013; Supraba et al., fundamental for better understanding of 2016). the life history including growth, The present study dealt with food and breeding and migration (Bal and Rao, feeding behavior of R. kanagurta to 1984) and the functional role of the provide basic data on the feeding habits different fishes within aquatic of the species in the Persian Gulf. The ecosystems (Blaber, 1997; Wootton, results will be utilized for the 1998). On the other hand, it has great description of ecological processes and importance in fisheries providing for the sustainable management of information on distribution pattern and fisheries resources. the nursery and feeding grounds of target fish species (Selvam et al., 2015). Materials and methods Downloaded from jifro.ir at 5:15 +0330 on Wednesday September 29th 2021 Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger Fish samples (n=260) for food analysis kanagurta) is an inhabitant of shallow were collected from purse seine, beach waters (Moazzam et al., 2005), which is nets and gill nets operating in the distributed throughout the coastal southern part of Qeshm Island in the waters of the Persian Gulf Persian Gulf on a seasonal basis from (Taghavimotlagh et al., 2014). Murray April 2016 through March 2017 (Fig. (1880) has reported this species from 1). Sindh in Pakistan as Scomber microlepidotus and S. kanagurta, whereas Zugmayer (1913) reported this species from the Makran coast as S. Iranian Journal of Fisheries Sciences 19(2) 2020 565 Figure 1: Location of the sampling area in the southern part of Qeshm Island (Persian Gulf). Samples were immediately iced and item in the stomach contents was transported to the laboratory for further expressed as the percentage of the total analysis. In the laboratory, the number of stomachs containing food specimens were cleaned, and total (Hyslop, 1980). lengths (L to the nearest mm), total The stomachs were visually weights (W to the nearest g), weight of classified into three categories, i.e., full gut (W to the nearest g) and degree of and empty depending upon the amount stomach fullness were recorded. of food contained in them and degree of In each season 65 specimens were fullness and the Stomach fullness index dissected, their stomach removed and (SFI) was estimated using the following Downloaded from jifro.ir at 5:15 +0330 on Wednesday September 29th 2021 preserved in 10% formalin solution and equation (Dadzie et al., 2000): later on examined under the Zeiss SFI (%)=Number of stomachs with the Axiovert S100 Inverted Microscope for degree of fullness/total number of the content identification. In the first stage, stomachs examined * 100 the zooplankton and phytoplankton The weight method was utilized to were identified, and the number of the analyze the stomach contents (Biswas, individuals was counted (Newell and 1993). Mean relative weight of food Newell, 1977). content was calculated as described by The analysis was continued using Hyslop (1980) as follows: frequency of occurrence and numerical methods as described by Hyslop (1980). Using the numerical method, the number of each food item was Gastro Somatic Index (GaSI) was expressed as the percentage of the total calculated for all seasons, proposed by number of items found in the stomach. Desai (1970) to estimate the feeding The frequency occurrence of each prey 566 Hakimelahi et al., Food and feeding habits of Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) in… intensity of fish using the following the major items, constituting about equation: 71.99% of food by number and 66.67% GaSI (%) = Weight of gut (g) / Weight by occurrence. Coscinodiscus sp. of fish (g) * 100 constituted the most preferable food Additionally, we calculated the item of plant origin where it occurred in Stomach Emptiness Index (SEI) 46.92% food items by number and proposed by Euzen (1987) to estimate 12.88% by occurrence followed by fish appetite using the following Guinardia sp., which occurred in 9.74% equation: of food items by number and 7.58% by SEI (%) = Empty stomachs / Total occurrence. Nitzschia sp., stomachs examined * 100 Leptocylindrus sp., and Bacteriastrum The logical conclusion in this sp. were the least important food items formula is that if 0≤ SEI<20, the fish is of plant origin which constituted <1% gluttonous; 20≤SEI<40, the fish is by number and by occurrence of food comparatively gluttonous; 40≤SEI<60, items. Crustaceans constituted the the fish is middle alimentary; second largest constituents of the 60≤SEI<80, the fish is comparatively stomach, accounting for 19.58% by hypoalimentative and 80≤SEI<100, the number and 24.61% by occurrence. The fish is hypoalimentative. third food item was molluscs, which constituted 5.85% by number and Results 4.43% by occurrence. Ciliates and The major food items found in the forams were the least important items stomach of R. kanagurta are shown in contributing to 2.53% and 0.05% by Table 1. The stomach contents were number and 2.86% and 1.43% by grouped into molluscs, crustaceans, occurrence, respectively. In total, based diatoms, dinoflagellates, forams, and on the numerical method, crustaceans Downloaded from jifro.ir at 5:15 +0330 on Wednesday September 29th 2021 ciliates. We observed that food items of and diatoms formed the most important plant origin were the most important food items in the diet for this species items occurring in all stomachs. (53.28 and 35.16%, respectively). Diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) and dinoflagellates (Dinophyceae) made up Table 1: Stomach contents of Rastrelliger kanagurta collected from the southern part of Qeshm Island (Persian Gulf). Numerical method Occurrence method Food items N % N % Ciliate Tintinnidae 910 2.53 20 2.86 Crustacean Copepoda 2724 7.57 40 5.72 Egg 1551 4.31 45 6.44 Alpheus sp. 1300 3.72 12 1.72 Harpacticoida 124 0.34 18 2.58 Ostracoda 794 2.21 26 3.72 Pieces of 515 1.43 31 4.43 crustacea Iranian Journal of Fisheries Sciences 19(2) 2020 567 Table 1 continued: Diatom Amphora sp. 105 0.29 30 4.29 Cerataulina sp. 19 0.05 1 0.29 Nitzschia sp. 3 0.01 2 0.14 Leptocylindrus sp. 3 0.01 1 0.14 Melosira sp. 25 0.07 1 0.14 Proboscia sp.