This investigation was aimed at ascertaining the actual consumers of Mesopodopsis zeylanica, to assess its importance in the trophic relationship within the habitat

Varghese, M.D.

Aquatic Commons

Fish. Techno!. (1981) 18, 61-62 61 
n the Importance of Mesopodopsis Zeylanica 
fish (Crustacea, ysidacea) as Food 
Smith (1879), Tattersall& Tattersall (1951), 
Stevenson (1958) and Hopkins (1965) have 
stressed the importance of mysids as food of 
many marine fishes. Of the estuarine spe-
cies, Neomysis awatschensis is the most 
extensively studied species. Heubach et al. 
(1963) have shown that it forms an important 
food of one year old stripped bass ( Roccus 
sexatilies) over 2.5 em in length. From India 
there is no detailed report regarding the part 
played by mysids in the food of fishes. 
Kaliamoorthy (1972) found that Mesopodo-
psis orientalis as an important food of fishes. 
Devraj et al. (1975) reported the presence of 
mysids in the stomach of pearl spot ( Etroplus 
suratensis), but they have not identified the 
species. 
The present :investjgation was aimed at 
ascertaining the actual consumers of Meso-
podopsis zeylanica, to assess its importance 
in the trophic relationship within the habitat. 
Table 1. Gut contents of different fishes 
Fish No. Range in 
total length 
mm 
Mugil cephalus 27 48-361 
Chanos chanos 14 39-312 
Channa striatus 19 61-407 
Clarius batrachus 23 42-296 
G lossogobius giures 12 17-128 
Arius sp. 8 51-281 
Barbussp. 31 23-198 
Lates calcarifer 6 118-403 
Etroplus suratensis 58 18-156 
Etroplus maculatus 32 11- 48 
Vol. 18, 1981 
Random collection of :fishes from Veli lake 
(08 261 Lat. Nand 76 57 1 Long E) was made 
and their gut contents examined. It was 
observed (Table 1) that none of the fishes 
except Etroplus suratensis had mysids in their 
stomach. Furthu no mysids were found in 
fishes above 5 em length. Small fishes 
measuring 2.5 em contained 12-27 mysids. 
Apart from mysids, there were also a good 
number of copepods. These fishes were 
observed following swarms of mysids. The 
stomach of E. suratensis was full of M. 
zelanica during February and March, 
1973 when a peak in the abundance of this 
mys:id occurred. 
This indicated that M. zeylanica formed a 
preft-rred item in the food of Etroplus, parti-
cularly juveniles, ranging from 2 to 5 em. 
Those above 5 em showed no preference 
probably because they fed on larger organisms. 
The itP.nsity of feeding was observed to be 
Gut contents 
Diatoms, algae and decayed organic matter 
Diatoms, blue green algae, filamentous algae 
and decayed vegetable matter 
Remains offish, fish fry, insect larvae and mud 
Small fish, worms and insects 
Hydrilla, filamentous algae, ostracods and 
insect remains 
Detritus, vegetable matter and remains of 
small crustaceans 
Detritus, insect larvae, copepods and mud 
Small fishes, prawns and remains of crabs 
Diatoms, filamentous algae, water fleas, 
mysids and copepods 
Diatoms and unicellular algae 
62 
directly proportional to their abundance in 
the habitat. This suggests the importance 
of this mysid in :fish culture. If artificial 
manuring is resorted to, this continuous 
breeder can be made available in large 
numbers throughout the year. 
The author is thankful to Dr. N. Balakrishnan Nair, 
Head of the Department of Aquatic Biology, 
Trivandrum for providing facilities for this work 
and to Dr. N. Krishna Pillai for guidance. 
References 
Devaraj, K. V., Shantharam, B. & Shetty, 
H. P. C. (1975) J'Jysore J. agric. Sci. 
9, 479 
Heubach, W., Toth, R. J. & Mecready, 
A. M. (1963) Calif. Fish. Game. 49, 224 
Department of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, 
University of Kerala, Trivandrum-695 007 
M. D. VARGHESE 
Hopkins, T. L. (1965) Chesapeake Sci. 6, 86 
Kaliamoorthy, M. (1972) J. Inland Fish. 
Soc. India. 4, 198 
Smith, S. J. (1979) Trans. Conn. Acad. 
Agrts. Sci. 5, 27 
Stevenson, R. A. (1958) The Biology of 
the Anchovies Anchoa mitchilli metchilli 
(Cuvier and Valenciennes 1848) Anchoa 
hepsetus hepsetus ( Linnaeus 1758) in 
Delaware Bay. M.Sc. Thesis, University 
of Delaware 
Tattersall, Vi!. M. & Tattersall, 0. S. (1951) 
The British Mysidacea, p. 460 Ray 
Society, London 
M. D. VARGHESE* 
*Present address: Burla Research Centre of Central Institute, of Fisheries Technology, . Burla 768 017 
FISHERY TECHNOLOGY 


On the importance of Mesopodopsis zeylanica (Crustacea, Mysidacea) as food of fish.

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On the importance of Mesopodopsis zeylanica (Crustacea, Mysidacea) as food of fish.

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