The present paper describes the recruitment and food composition of thin-lipped grey mullet, Liza ramada (Risso, 1826) juveniles in the estuary of the Neretva River in the southeastern Adriatic. Thin-lipped mullet appeared in the Port of Ploče in February. The relationships between total length, standard length, and weight showed a remarkably good fit to the expected allometric model, with b=3 for total length. Twelve different animal food categories were identified. The greatest diversity was recorded in April at the Port of Ploče when 10 categories were present. In addition, six diatom taxa were noted. Harpacticoid copepods were the most common prey (39%) in these samples, followed by insects (32%) and cladocerans (12%). All other prey accounted for less than 4%. Insects represented 99% of prey in the stomachs of specimens sampled from the freshwater Crna Rijeka River. Thin-lipped mullet juveniles were not found on sandy beaches or natural bays around the port. It thus appears that juveniles find the port area to be a habitat with the favorable characteristics of a brackish water nursery: of predators, lower salinity, and high food availability. These all promote better survival and recruitment in this area of the Croatian Adriatic.U ovom radu opisuju se novačenje i sastav hrane mlađi cipla balavca Liza ramada na ušću rijeke Neretve u jugoistočnom Jadranu. Cipal balavac se pojavljuje u luci Ploče tijekom veljače. Odnosi između ukupne dužine, standardne dužine i mase pokazuju izuzetno dobro poklapanje s očekivanim alometrijskim modelom, za vrijednost alometrijskog koeficijenta b=3 za ukupnu dužinu. Određeno je dvanaest različitih kategorija hrane. Najveća raznolikost, 10 skupina plijena, je utvrđena u travnju u luci Ploče. Dodatno je utvrđeno 6 taksonomskih kategorija alga kremenjašica. Harpaktikoidni veslonošci su najčešći plijen (39%) mlađi cipla balavca, zatim slijede kukci (32%) i rašljoticalci (12%). Na sav ostali plijen otpada manje od 4%. Kukci predstavljaju 99% plijena utvrđenog u probavilima jedinki prikupljenih iz Crne rijeke. Mlađ cipla balavca nije utvrđena na pješčanim plažama i zaljevima šireg područja ušća Neretve. Smatra se da je brojnost mlađi cipla balavca u luci Ploče u svezi s povoljnim uvjetima staništa kao što su: manji broj predatora, niža slanost i veća količina dostupne hrane. Sve navedeno pogoduje uspješnijem novačenju cipla balavca u ovom dijelu hrvatskog Jadrana
