Food of some Demersal fishes from the trawl Grounds off Cochin

Abstract

The food habits of seven commonly caught demersal fishes from the Cochin region, namely, Platycepha'us maculipinna, Pseudosciaena sina, Otolithus argenteus, Lactarius lactarius, Saurida tiimbil, Trichiurus tepturus and Nemipterus faponicus have been studied during the period from February 1965 to October 1967. It is seer, that these fishes could be grouped into three categories on the basis of their food preferences. One group consisting of L. lactarius, T. lepturus and S.tumbilh largely piscivorous. The second category feeds on a variety of crustaceans and also fish. This includes P. maculipinna, P. sina and O. argenteus. The third category represented by the thread-fin bream A'. Japonicus consumes small crustaceans dominated by amphipods. Polychaetes and echiuroids form a significant proportion of the food of these fishes. Smaller commercial penaeid prawns like Parapenaeopsis stylifera and Metapenaeus dobsoni were eaten liy majority of the species studied. They were found in significant quantities in the focd of O. argenteus and to a lesser extent in P. sina, P. maculipinna and T. lepturus.