Food and feeding habits of Nemipterus japonicus (Bloch, 1791) off Gujarat, north-west coast of India

Abstract

The food and feeding habits of Nemipterus japonicus (Bloch, 1791) were studied along the Veraval coast, Gujarat landed by trawl fisheries. Total of 179 samples were analyzed to study the food and feeding habits from August, 2017 to March, 2018. The gut content comprised of fishes, crustacean and molluscan indicating demersal carnivorous nature of feeding. During the study, 15 genera of various groups of animals and digested material were recorded from the fishes of 79-450 mm total length. Crustaceans were among the most preferred food items of N. japonicus, contributing to 51.71 % of IRI. The proportions of empty and full stomachs were 37 and 28 %, respectively. Acetes spp. was the dominant diet in feed with 26 % of total feed followed by digested material (21.55 %), P. sanguinolentus (12.06 %), and Solenocera sp. (11.35 %), respectively.