Food and feeding habits of Johnieops sina were studied along the Cochin coast during the period 2008-2010. Johnieops

sina mainly feed on crustaceans followed by teleost fishes and the juveniles mainly feed on Acetes. Highest percentage

of penaeid prawns and fishes was observed in 190-199 mm and 160-169 mm length groups, respectively. Incidence of

empty stomach was high in all months. Intense feeding in male fishes was observed during April, September, October and

November, whereas the females fed intensively during December and Januar

Pillai, N G K

Prakasan, D

Venugopal, N

CMFRI Digital Repository

Indian J. Fish., 61(1) : 103-107, 2014NoteFood and feeding habits of Johnieops sina (Cuvier, 1830) along  Cochin coast of IndiaN. VENUGOPAL, N. G. K. PILLAI AND D. PRAKASANCentral Marine Fisheries Research Institute, P. B. No.1603, Cochin – 682 018, Kerala, Indiae-mail : venugopaln010@gmail.com ABSTRACTFood and feeding habits of Johnieops sina were studied along the Cochin coast during the  period 2008-2010. Johnieops sina mainly feed on crustaceans followed by teleost fishes and the juveniles mainly feed on Acetes. Highest percentage of penaeid prawns and fishes was observed in 190-199 mm and 160-169 mm length groups, respectively. Incidence of empty stomach was high in all months.  Intense feeding in male fishes was observed during April, September, October and November, whereas the females fed intensively during December and January.Keywords : Cochin, Food and feeding habits,  Johnieops sina Feeding is one of the vital functions of living organisms to generate nutritional source for various fundamental biological activities. Growth, nutritional requirements, breeding and migration of any fish species are known from information on their feeding habits. The distribution and abundance of any fish species is greatly influenced by availability and prey potentiality in the region. The horizontal and vertical movement of fish stock is also greatly influenced by the variations in seasonal and diurnal abundance of the prey. Hence, study on food and feeding habits of fishes form one of the main aspects in the study of its biology (Qasim, 1972). It also helps in forecasting the movements of fish and improving the harvest of commercial fisheries. Feeding habits of similar fish species is varied in different environments. There are many regional factors like environmental condition, kind of prey availability, defence mechanism of prey and attractive nature of prey which alter and affect the feeding characters of fish species. The spectrum of prey consumed by a species helps to define its fundamental niche (Hutchinson, 1957). Thus, it is imperative to examine food and feeding behaviour of similar species on a regional basis.Studies on food and feeding habits of Johnieops sina are restricted to few investigations. Venkataraman (1960), George et al. (1968), Nair (1980), Suseelan and Nair (1969) and Manoj Kumar (2003) have made attempts to study the feeding habits of J. sina from Indian waters. However, no detailed investigation on the feeding behaviour has been carried out so far. This paper presents the results of the studies carried out on food and feeding habits of J. sina caught along the Cochin coast during the period 2008-2010.Samples were collected weekly from three major landing centres such as Munambam, Vypin and Cochin Fisheries Harbour during the period  January 2008 - June 2010. A total of 1141 individuals (pooled) of J. sina in different size groups ranging from 99-209 mm were sampled for the present study. In order to understand the seasonal variations in feeding habits, samples were collected in different seasons during the study period. However, samples were not collected in July being the annual trawl ban period on fishing in Kerala. After collecting required data on total length and weight, specimens were dissected for removing guts for further analysis. All the individuals were segregated sex-wise for examining the gonadal maturity stages. The stomachs were preserved in 5% formalin for further analysis. The gut contents were weighed and cut opened for recording degree of fullness of stomachs. Stomach condition was classified based on quantity of food materials present in the gut as gorged, full, 3/4th full, 1/2 full, 1/4th full, trace and empty.Prey items in the stomachs were emptied in a clean petri-dish and segregated to study the composition. Both occurrence and volumetric displacement methods were used for qualitative and quantitative analysis, respectively. Qualitative analysis was adopted and prey items in recognisable condition were identified up to either species or generic level. Food items in advanced state of digestion were categorised as digested, semi digested and traceable. Following the volume displacement method (Pillay, 1952), volume of each food item was measured with a measuring jar. J. sina being a carnivore, the index of pre-ponderance method (Natarajan and Jhingran, 1961) was attempted as it is suitable for carnivorous fishes. This method has also the advantage of considering both qualitative and quantitative assessment. The index was calculated  using the following equation:Vi Oi Σ Vi Oix 100I =where Vi   and Oi   represents the percentage of volume and percentage of occurrence indices of each food items respectively and I the index. Qualitative analysis of stomach contents of J. sina showed its preference for larger organisms in shallow 104N. Venugopal et al.waters. Some of the most dominant prey organisms were teleosts, penaeid prawns, squilla and Acetes sp. A detailed list of the food components is given in Table 1. Stomach analyses indicated that food composition of J. sina consisted mainly of two groups, crustaceans and teleost fishes  (Table 1). Among the crusteceans, penaeid prawns constituted major portion followed by Acetes sp., crab and Oratosquilla nepa. Studies in other sciaenid species have indicated similar food preference (Venkitaraman,1960; George, 1968; Bhusari, 1975; Rao, 1979;  Dukhande, 1991; Chakraborthy et al., 2000). Saurida sp., Nemipterus sp., Leiognathus spp. and Cynoglossus sp., were the major species dominating the fish diet. Studies on J. sina from Kerala coast reported a wide range of preference to many demersal and midwater species like Stolephorus sp., silverbellies, juveniles of Saurida sp., flatfish and mackerel (Chakraborty et al., 2000). Squid was also observed in the stomach, but molluscs  were negligible compared to crustaceans and fish. Juveniles and adults of this species demonstrated varied prey preference. Diet of juveniles of J. sina in the present investigation consisted mostly of crustaceans, while the contribution of fish was minimal. Acetes sp. dominated the crustacean diet followed by juveniles of Saurida spp. Occurrence of Acetes sp. is recorded extensively in the diet of many ssciaenid species  (Venkataraman, 1960; Bhusari, 1975; George et al., 1960; Dukhande, 1991; Chakrabothy et al., 2000). Diet of juveniles mainly composed of Acetes sp., while the adult diet comprised of a wide choice of prey items like penaeid prawns, many teleost species, stomotopods and molluscs. The diet of juvenile J. sina from Calicut waters consisted of copepods, whereas adult prefer fishes and penaeid prawns (Nair, 1980). Dukhande (1991) also reported similar observation on J. sina from Mumbai waters. The diet difference between juveniles and adults  could be attributed to the diverse environment in which they live (Nair, 1980). Juveniles remained mostly at the bottom of sea and therefore their diet was largely dominated by bottom fauna, while the diet of adults consisted of a wide range of food items from all layers of the water column.  Month-wise food composition is shown in Table 2. The diet in most of the months was dominated by crustaceans. Among crustaceans, penaeid prawns were present mostly in all the months and was found to be an important food item. Acetes sp. was the only non-penaeid prawn found predominantly in all the months. Apart from crabs and squilla, the second food item observed in the stomach in all the months was fishes. The occurrence and volume of different prey items in the stomach of J. sina are shown in Table 3. Index calculation of prey items indicated crustaceans as the dominant food item followed by fish. Penaeid prawns ranked first (37%) followed by Acetes sp. (36.4%). Fishes were the second dominant prey item consisting of Saurida spp. as the dominant item (1.8%) followed by Nemipterus spp. (0.8%) and Cynoglossus spp. (0.5%). Feeding on squids by J. sina was observed occasionally and it contributed 0.5% of all the food items. Digested matter Table 1. Food  composition  of  Johnieops sina  observed  in  the  present studyGroup SpeciesPenaeid prawns Parapenaeopsis styliferaMetapenaeus affinisMetapenaeus dobsoniMetapenaeus monocerosTeleosts Leiognathus spp.Stolephorus  spp.Cynoglossus spp.Nemipterus spp.Saurida spp.Sciaenids Upeneus spp.Non-penaeid prawn Acetes sp.Stomatopod Oratosquilla nepaMolluscs SquidsOther crustaceans CrabsJan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Aug Sep Oct Nov DecSaurida spp. 16.3 10.9 11.2 7.9 13.3 - 2.5 2.2 18.6 - -Nemipterus spp. - - 5.7 4.7 14.9 - 1.5 10.1 - - 9.4Sciaenids 2.0 - 2.4 10.6 - 17.0 - - 8.6 7.9 11.4Cynoglossus spp. - - 6.8 4.3 - - - 2.6 12.4 8.3 11.0Leiognathus spp. 4.3 - - - - - - - 6.6 2.5 -Upeneus spp. - - 2.2 2.2 1.00 - - 9.2 6.2 3.8 -Stolephorus spp. - - 1.0 - - - - - - 3.5 3.1Squids 13.0 - 4.0 - - - - - - 4.6 3.3Crab 5.9 10.7 10.4 2.00 5.5 40.8 - - 8.0 - -Acetes sp. 6.1 14.2 14.8 16.4 6.2 11.0 42.5 12.1 16.7 20.5 17.6Penaeid prawn 22.1 34.0 10.9 23.7 27.3 11.4 20.0 27.8 10.5 23.1 22.1Oratosquilla nepa 7.51 6.0 8.2 3.7 6.9 3.4 6.5 3.8 - - -Semi-digested matter 12.1 11.0 11.9 11.0 11.6 5.7 7.2 18.3 2.5 16.5 16.9Digested matter 10.8 13.2 10.5 13.6 13.5 10.7 19.8 14.2 9.9 9.3 5.2Table 2. Month-wise percentage composition of different food items in the stomach of  Johnieops sinaMonthsPrey items105ranked third with a contribution of 16.4%. Food composition with respect to different length groups is given in Table 4. Quantitative analysis of stomach content of 392 males and 487 females were carried out to gain insight into feeding intensity of J. sina (Table 5 and 6). They were categorised into different groups based on the quantity of food in the content with stomach of fishes  with gorged, full or 3/4th full condition  as actively fed, ½ full, moderately fed, and ¼ or as poorly fed.Length-wise preference of J.sina for different diets is shown in Table 4. The length group between 90-109 mm consisting of juveniles  preferred Acetes sp. whereas adults (180-189 mm) mostly fed on fishes. Fishes varied from lowest of 1.16% in 120-129 mm length group to highest (59.61%) in 160-169 mm length group. Molluscs were not found in the diet of juvenile length group, but recorded in adult length ranging between 160 and 189 mm with maximum of 2.97% in 170-179 mm length group and minimum of 0.15% in Food and feeding habits of Johnieops sinaPrey items Occurrence % of occurrence (Oi)Volume (V) (ml)% of volume (Vi)  OiVi Index of preponderanceSaurida spp. 12 3.0 71.5 8.6 25.9 1.8Nemipterus spp. 9 2.3 43.5 5.2 11.8 0.8Sciaenids 7 1.8 22.5 2.7 4.7 0.3Cynoglossus spp. 8 2.0 31.25 3.8 7.5 0.5Leiognathus spp. 5 1.3 10 1.2 1.5 0.1Upeneus spp. 7 1.8 20.5 2.5 4.3 0.3Stolephorus spp. 5 1.3 16.5 2.0 2.5 0.2Squid 10 2.5 22.5 2.7 6.8 0.5Crab 10 2.5 42 5.1 12.7 0.9Acetes sp. 110 27.5 160 19.3 53.3 36.4Penaeid prawn 95 23.8 188.4 22.7 539.2 37.0Oratosquilla nepa 14 3.5 26.22 3.2 11.1 0.8Semi digested matter 26 6.5 78.4 9.4 31.4 4.2Digested matter 82 20.5 96.5 11.6 238.4 16.4Table 3. Index of preponderance in Johnieops sina caught along the Cochin coastTable 4. Diet composition (%)  in relation to the length of Johnieops sinaLength group(mm)Acetes sp. Fish Squid Crab Squilla Penaeid prawn Digested matter90-99 100100-109 90.40 9.6 - - - - -110-119 76.79 - - - 3.41 19.83120-129 75.01 1.16 - - - 13.69 10.96130-139 38.19 17.40 - - - 22.07 22.34140-149 48.27 24.24 - - 2.16 15.49 9.79150-159 18.27 43.34 - - - 24.29 14.10160-169 12.41 59.61 0.15 0.90 1.79 13.94 11.14170-179 10.97 39.88 2.97 3.54 1.26 18.66 4.75180-189 6.32 25.97 2.63 6.94 - 41.22 18.86190-199 6.90 33.83 - - 4.06 71.78 7.49200-209 7.69 48.91 - - - 42.45 11.45160-169 mm length groups. Prey preference seems to vary with increase in size of the fish. Highest percentage of penaeid prawns was observed in 190-199 mm length group (71.78%).High feeding intensity in males was observed during April, September, October and November, whereas in females feeding intensity was high during December and January. Maximum percentage of gorged stomach was observed in October in both the sexes. The percentages of actively fed juveniles were higher than that of adults and percentage of poorly fed fishes increased with the size of the fishes.  High incidence of   poorly fed fishes was observed during most of the months. These probably indicate absence of regular periodicity in the intensity of feeding in different seasons. Nair (1979) reported predominance of poorly fed fish in most of the months which shows absence of seasonal intense feeding activity. The frequent occurrence of empty stomachs may be attributed to the faster digestion due to strong gastric juice in carnivorous fishes (Qasim, 1972) 106From the present study, it could be inferred that the diet of J. sina comprised of two major groups, the crustaceans and the teleosts. There is a shift in  the preference for food items from juvenile to adult. Juveniles have limited prey options as food compared to the adults. While the Juveniles fed on Acetes sp. as the most preferred, adults mostly preferred paenied prawns and teleost fishes. There is no definite pattern in the relationship between feeding intensity and size of the fish. However there may be geographical difference in food and feeding pattern as it depends on the availability of different food items in the habitat. Food is the most important limiting factor in the distribution and abundance of a particular species in a region.AcknowledgementsThe authors are thankful to the Director, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin, for all the facilities.Months    Active feeding      Moderate feeding     Low feeding Gorged Full 3/4th full ½ full ¼ full TraceJanuary - 15.86 6.25 18.43 12.49 2.0 41.57February - - 17.13 27.42 1.82 14.35 39.48March - 20.35 12.90 11.13 2.45 5.64 43.51April 6.54 27.78 11.11 16.67 - 5.55 33.34May - 13.64 4.58 10.90 20.02 6.89 41.19June - 2.29 12.00 26.75 - 2.89 56.07August - 4.57 26.72 - 2.63 - 66.08September 5.78 29.50 3.44 18.89 5.46 8.95 46.02October 6.97 12.18 12.93 9.65 15.57 5.35 37.38November - 22.86 15.75 14.27 6.73 12.11 28.28December - 15.12 8.90 20.38 11.10 - 44.50Table 5.. Month-wise feeding intensity of male Johnieops sinaN. Venugopal et al.EmptyMonths     Active feeding    Moderate feeding     Low feeding Gorged Full 3/4th full ½ full ¼ full TraceJanuary - 23.55 10.96 13.61 6.48 6.45 37.87February - 19.35 6.72 12.16 10.81 2.34 48.62March - 11.04 3.00 25.60 15.15 6.80 38.41April 3.23 9.98 12.45 10.84 3.28 - 60.22May 4.62 14.45 15.20 8.39 14.20 15.63 26.79June 7.28 6.76 19.10 15.80 13.35 12.15 35.67August 3.13 13.34 3.00 35.91 5.55 - 39.77September - 17.86 12.20 18.07 - 10.79 41.38October 9.54 8.79 7.69 22.38 6.93 5.15 29.62November 8.47 12.28 11.71 18.86 9.39 12.70 26.68December 6.76 29.31 20.76 4.78 - 5.55 32.84Table 6. Month-wise feeding intensity of female Johnieops sinaEmptyReferencesBhusari, B. V. 1975. Bilogy and fishery of Pseudosciaena sina at Ratnagiri, South Maharastra. J. Bombay Nat.  Hist. Soc., 72(2): 357-367.Chakraborty, S. K., Devadoss, P., Manojkumar, P. P.,  Khan, M. F.,  Jayasankar, P., Sivakami, S., Gandhi, V., Sastry, Y. A., Raju, A., Livingston, P., Hamsa, K. M. S. A., Badrudeen, M., Ramalingam, P.,  Dhareswar, V. M.,  Rao, C. V. S., Nadakumaran, K., Chavan, B. B. and Seetha, P. K. 2000. The fishery, biology and stock assessment of jew fish resources of India. In: Pillai, V. N. and Menon, N. G. (Eds.), Marine fisheries research and management, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, India, p. 604-616.107Date of Receipt : 10.04.2013Date of Acceptance : 14.06.2013Natarajan, 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.Pillay, T. V. R. 1952. A critique of the methods of study of food of fishes. J. Zool. Soc. India, 4:185-200Qasim, S. Z. 1972. The dyanamics of food and feeding habits of some marine fishes. Indian. J. Fish., 19(1&2): 11-28.Rao, T. A. 1978. Relative abundance of sciaenid  species along Andhra- Orissa coasts. Indian J. Fish., 23: 201-212.Suseelan, C. and Nair, K. V. S. 1969. Food and feeding habits of the demersal fishes off Bombay. Indian. J. Fish., 16 (1 &2): 56-74. Venkatraraman, G. 1960. Studies on the food and feeding relationship of the inshore fishes off Calicut of Malabar coast. Indian. J. Fish., 7(2): 275-306.Food and feeding habits of Johnieops sinaDukhande, S. 1991. Feeding and reproductive biology of Johinieops sina (Cuvier, 1830). M. Sc. thesis., University of Bombay, 58 pp.George, K. C., Dayanandan, M. G.  and Nair, P. K. 1968. Food of some demersal fishes from the trawl grounds off Cochin. Indian. J. Fish., 15(1&2): 81-87.Hutchinson, G. E. 1957. Concluding remarks. Cold Spring Harbor  Symp. Quant. Biol., 22: 415–427.Manojkumar, P. P. 2003. Observations on the food and feeding habits of Otolithes cuvieri (Trewavas) off Veraval. Indian J. Fish., 50: 379-385.Nair, K. V. S. 1979. Food and feeding habits of O. ruber (Schneider) at Calicut. Indian J. Fish., 26(1&2): 24-34.Nair, K. V. S. 1980. Food and feeding habits of Johnieops sina (Cuvier) at Calicut. Indian. J. Fish., 27(1 &2): 24-34.

Food and feeding habits of Johnieops sina (Cuvier, 1830) along Cochin

coast of India

http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/10051/1/7_Venugopal.pdf

Food and feeding habits of Johnieops sina (Cuvier, 1830) along Cochin coast of India

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

CMFRI Digital Repository