Observations on feeding habits of the common dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus 1758) from the western Bay of Bengal

Ghosh, Shubhadeep and Satish Kumar, M and Manas, H M and Rohit, Prathibha and Abdussamad, E M and Gopalakrishnan, A (2021) Observations on feeding habits of the common dolphinfish, Coryphaena hippurus (Linnaeus 1758) from the western Bay of Bengal. Aquatic Living Resources, 34. pp. 1-12.

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    Abstract

    Coryphaena hippurus is a large pelagic species and constitutes an important by-catch in drift gillnet, trolling and long-line fishing gears operated along the Bay of Bengal, northeastern Indian Ocean. The present study, first from the region, is aimed at deciphering the feeding dynamics from 1150 individuals collected from 2017 to 2019. 32.17% of the fishes had empty stomachs or was with food traces, 45.57% had partially-full stomachs and 22.26% had full stomachs. The feeding intensity was inferred through stomach filling and predator-prey weight ratio, which was higher in May and lower in January, and increasing as increase in the fish size. Coryphaena hippurus is considered a piscivorous pelagic predator as pelagic teleosts contribute more than half of the prey species. Major prey species were big-eye scad (27.3%), squid (10.3%), crabs (9.3%), Indian mackerel (7.2%), Indian scad (5.9%), whitebaits (5.7%) and sardines (5.4%). Scads and crabs were abundantly preyed during summer and winter, while clupeids and engraulids in monsoon; however, no significant variations were observed in prey composition between sizes. Trophic Level was 4.22 ± 0.15 and Levins Standardized Niche Breadth Index was 0.30. Dietary niche breadth was higher during summer (0.48) and monsoon (0.33) and in fishes measuring 60.0–74.9 cm (0.51) and below 45.0 cm (0.48) indicating generalised feeding. This primary study from Bay of Bengal is the first comprehensive report on trophodynamics for the species and would contribute to its management using trophic interactions.

    Item Type: Article
    Uncontrolled Keywords: Bay of Bengal; Coryphaena hippurus; feeding intensity; prey composition; feeding strategy
    Subjects: Food and Feeding
    Divisions: CMFRI-Mangalore
    CMFRI-Visakhapatnam
    Depositing User: Arun Surendran
    Date Deposited: 01 Nov 2021 09:36
    Last Modified: 22 Feb 2023 05:57
    URI: http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/id/eprint/15449

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