Predatory diversity of two demersal finfish species in the trawling grounds off Veraval

Abstract

Nemipterus japonicus is morphologically adapted to predate on small sized crustaceans like Acetes and penaeid prawns. Saurida tumbil is adapted to predate on larger and faster prey like finfishes and squids. N. japonicus predates on 35 prey groups compared to 22 by S. tumbil. Both the predators are asynchronous cyclic feeders. In a continum between opportunistic and selective feeding, N. japonicus is towards opportunistic feeding and S. tumbil towards selective feeding. There are ontogenetic changes in the predatory pattern of both the species.