Food and feeding habits of four major commercial fish species on the central west coast of India

In the present study, four species of commercial fish species namely Rastrelligar kanarguta, Tenualosa ilisha, Mugil cephalus and Sardinella longiceps were studied to understand their planktonic gut composition. This investigation was carried out by collecting locally caught fresh fish specimens from Coco beach at Nerul, Bardez-Goa, India from October 2019 to March 2020. These specimens were caught using the fishing gears such as cast net/gill net/seine nets operated from motorized canoes/crafts in the near shoreline region. Fishes mentioned in this report feed mainly on zooplankton i.e., copepods and bivalves. The copepod that dominated the gut content most of which were in semi-digested form apart from diatom and bivalve larvae. However, during the winter period, February and March, gut content was full of non-motile, marine dinoflagellates (ca. 200–500µm in size) represented by Pyrocystic sp. The study concludes that these commercial fishes show seasonal variation in feeding patterns and food selection (zooplankton ← → phytoplankton)