Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Stomach Content of Ribbon Fish- Lepturacanthus Savala (Cuvier, 1829) From Karwar Waters, Karnataka, India

Abstract

The study of food and feeding habits has great importance in understanding the various aspects of fishery biology. The distribution of marine organisms, either their occurrence or fluctuations in occurrence determines the food of a fish species. Food and feeding may also affect the shoaling behavior, migration, growth, and reproduction in fishes which indirectly affect the fishery (James P. S. B. R., 1967). Natarajan and Jhingran (1973), opinioned that in the occurrence method, the quantity of each item of food is not considered similarly the quantitative methods do not record the repeated occurrence of food items. Thus, from the occurrence or quantitative methods, only one method is not suitable for proper food analysis in the fish. In view of this, an Index takes into consideration the occurrence and quantity of the food item eaten by the fish. ‘Index of Preponderance’ appears to be most suitable for studying food and feeding, for this purpose volumetric or displacement method is used by many authors for the most accurate results.