The Asian Journal of Animal Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Food and Feeding Habits of Marine Catfish, Osteogeneiosus militaris (linn., 1758) off Mumbai Waters


Affiliations
1 ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, KOLKATA (W.B.), India
2 Department of Fishery Technology, College of Fisheries (O.U.A.T.) Rangeilunda, BERHAMPUR (ODISHA), India
3 Department of Fishery Engineering and Technology, College of Fisheries (O.U.A.T.) Rangeilunda, BERHAMPUR (ODISHA), India
4 Department of Fish Nutrition, College of Fisheries (O.U.A.T.) Rangeilunda, BERHAMPUR (ODISHA), India
5 Department of Fishery Microbiology, College of Fisheries (O.U.A.T.) Rangeilunda, BERHAMPUR (ODISHA), India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The food and feeding habits of the marine cat fish, Osteogeneiosus militaris (Linn.,1758) off Mumbai waters was studied. The species was found to be carnivorous and predacious in feeding habit. Index of preponderance values indicated that, it feeds mainly on crustaceans (shrimps, crabs), molluscs (bivalves, squids) and small fishes (Coilia spp., ribbon fish). Among the food groups, crustaceans dominate throughout the year in comparison to molluscs and fishes. In the crustacean group, Acetes spp. was found to be the dominant food item contributing to 43.34 per cent followed by penaeid shrimps, which shared 27.65 per cent of the total food in all the months. Analysis of month-wise percentage food composition revealed that, the species fed the highest percentage of Acetes spp. during the month of November (34.92%) while penaeid shrimps was consumed in the largest percentage in January (35.10%). With respect to the size (length) of the fish, the percentage of Acetes spp. as a food item was highest (52.99%) for the length group of 391-420 mm and lowest (25.64%) for 361-390 mm. The guts were found to be empty for fishes having length of more than 420 mm. Results of the feeding intensity delineated that, the species is not a voracious feeder as none of the individuals studied was found to have gorged or full stomach over the entire period of investigation. Among the different length groups, the highest feeding fishes were in the length group of 211-240 mm. Gastro-somatic index was highest during August for males and during November for females while the pooled value was highest in January (3.206).

Keywords

Food and Feeding Habits, Marine Catfish, Osteogeneiosus militaris.
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Abbas, A. (2010). Food and feeding habits of freshwater catfish, Eutropiichthys vacha (Bleeker). Indian J. Sci. Res., 1(2) : 83-86.

  • Anonymous (2015). Annual Report 2014-15, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin.

  • Badola, S.P. and Singh, H.R. (1980). Food and feeding habits of fishes of the genera Tor, Puntius and Barilius. Proc. Indian Nat. Sci. Acad., 46 (1):58-62.

  • Day, F. (1878). The Fishes of India, Being a Natural History of Fishes Known to Inhabit the Seas and Freshwaters of India, Burma and Ceylon,William Dawson and Son Ltd., pp. xx+778 pls 195, Text and atlas in four parts, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM.

  • Devanesan, D.W. and Chidambaram, K. (1953). The common food fishes of the Madras presidency.Madras Govt. Publication, pp. 207.

  • Dhulkhed, M.H. (1962). Observations on the food and feeding habits of the Indian oil sardine, Sardinella longiceps Val. Indian J. Fish., 9A(l):37-47.

  • Krishna, S. (1981). Studies on morphometry and biology of catfish O. Militaris Off Bombay Coast. M. Sc. Thesis, Central Institute of Fisheries Education. Mumbai (M.S.) INDIA.

  • Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae, 10th Ed. (Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum, classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus diiferentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus, I. Editio Decima, Reformata, Holmiae, Impensis Direct, Laurentii Salvii.) pp. i-iv+ 1-824.

  • Menon, N.G. (1979). Studies on the Biology and Fishery of Giant Marine Catfish. Tachysurus Thalassinus (Ruppell). Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cochin, India.

  • Mohanraj, T. and Prabhu, K. (2012). Food habits and diet composition of demersal marine fishes from Gulf of Mannar, Southeast Coast of India. Adv. Biol. Res., 6 (4): 159-164,

  • Mojumder, P. (1969). Food of Tachysurus thalassinus (Ruppell). Indian J. Fish.,16 : 161-169.

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

  • Priyadharsini, S., Subramaniyan, A., Manoharan, J. and Varadharajan, D. (2013). Food and feeding habits of red lionfish Pterois volitans from Cuddalore Coast, South East Coast of India. J. Aquac. Res. Develop., 4(4): 1-13.

  • Qasim, S.Z. (1972). The dynamics of food and feeding habits of some marine fishes. Indian J. Fish., 19 (1): 11-28.

  • Raje, S.G. (2003). Some aspects of the biology Tachysuru tenuispinis (Day) from Veraval. J. Indian Fish. Assoc., 30: 97-103.

  • Raje, S.G. (2006). Some aspects of biology of catfishes Tachysurus caelatus (Valenciennes) andOsteogeneiosus militaris (Linnaeus) from Mumbai. Indian J. Fish., 53(3) : 333-340.

  • Silas, E. G., Pillai P.P., Dhulked, M.H., Muthiah, C. and Rao, G. S. (1980). Purse seine fishery – imperative need for regulation.Mar. Fish. Infor. Serv. T. & E. Ser., 24: 1-9.

  • SPSS (2000). Statistical Sofware Package for Social Sciences for Windows-Release 10. SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA.

  • Suseelan, C. and Somasekharan Nair, K.V. (1969). Food and feeding habits of demersal fishes off Bombay bay. Indian J. Fish., 16: 56-74.

  • Varadharajan, D. and Pushparajan, N. (2013) Food and feeding habits of aquaculture candidate a potential crustacean of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, South East Coast of India. J. Aquac. Res. Develop., 4 (1) :1-5.

  • Venkataraman, G. (1960). Studies on the food and feeding relationships of the inshore fishes off Calicut on the Malabar coast. Indian J. Fish., 7 (1): 275-306.

  • Venugopal, N., Pillai, N. G. K., and Prakasan, D. (2014). Food and feeding habits of Johnieops sina (Cuvier, 1830) along Cochin coast of India. Indian J. Fish., 61(1) : 103-107.


Abstract Views: 401

PDF Views: 0




  • Food and Feeding Habits of Marine Catfish, Osteogeneiosus militaris (linn., 1758) off Mumbai Waters

Abstract Views: 401  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

P. K. Parida
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, KOLKATA (W.B.), India
B. K. Khuntia
Department of Fishery Technology, College of Fisheries (O.U.A.T.) Rangeilunda, BERHAMPUR (ODISHA), India
B. K. Pati
Department of Fishery Engineering and Technology, College of Fisheries (O.U.A.T.) Rangeilunda, BERHAMPUR (ODISHA), India
B. Sahu
Department of Fish Nutrition, College of Fisheries (O.U.A.T.) Rangeilunda, BERHAMPUR (ODISHA), India
S. K. Udgata
Department of Fishery Microbiology, College of Fisheries (O.U.A.T.) Rangeilunda, BERHAMPUR (ODISHA), India

Abstract


The food and feeding habits of the marine cat fish, Osteogeneiosus militaris (Linn.,1758) off Mumbai waters was studied. The species was found to be carnivorous and predacious in feeding habit. Index of preponderance values indicated that, it feeds mainly on crustaceans (shrimps, crabs), molluscs (bivalves, squids) and small fishes (Coilia spp., ribbon fish). Among the food groups, crustaceans dominate throughout the year in comparison to molluscs and fishes. In the crustacean group, Acetes spp. was found to be the dominant food item contributing to 43.34 per cent followed by penaeid shrimps, which shared 27.65 per cent of the total food in all the months. Analysis of month-wise percentage food composition revealed that, the species fed the highest percentage of Acetes spp. during the month of November (34.92%) while penaeid shrimps was consumed in the largest percentage in January (35.10%). With respect to the size (length) of the fish, the percentage of Acetes spp. as a food item was highest (52.99%) for the length group of 391-420 mm and lowest (25.64%) for 361-390 mm. The guts were found to be empty for fishes having length of more than 420 mm. Results of the feeding intensity delineated that, the species is not a voracious feeder as none of the individuals studied was found to have gorged or full stomach over the entire period of investigation. Among the different length groups, the highest feeding fishes were in the length group of 211-240 mm. Gastro-somatic index was highest during August for males and during November for females while the pooled value was highest in January (3.206).

Keywords


Food and Feeding Habits, Marine Catfish, Osteogeneiosus militaris.

References