Food And Feeding Habit Of Amblypharyngodon mola (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) In West Bengal, India
2012; World Wide Journals; Volume: 2; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.15373/22778179/may2013/98
ISSN2277-8179
AutoresSandipan Gupta, Samir Banerjee,
Tópico(s)Fish Ecology and Management Studies
ResumoTo get success in culture of any fish species, detail knowledge on food and feeding habit of that particular fish species is really essential. Except the work of Piska et al. (1991) no such detail work till date has been performed on food and feeding habit of Amblypharyngodon mola in agro-climatic context of India. So the present study has been performed to get the information on the food and feeding habit of this fish species. Gastro-Somatic-Index, Relative Length of Gut, Gut Fullness & Feeding Intensity and Gut Content Analysis have been studied. Results have revealed Amblypharyngodon mola as herbivorous fish and phytoplankton as the basic food group for this fish species; chlorophyceae has been observed as the most preferable food class. Feeding activity has been observed to vary according to the breeding season; lowest and highest feeding activity has been observed during intense breeding season and pre-spawning months respectively. Food And Feeding Habit Of Amblypharyngodon mola (HamiltonBuchanan, 1822) In West Bengal, India Samir Banerjee Aquaculture Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, 35, Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata700019, West Bengal, India Introduction Amblypharyngodon mola, commonly known as Mola Carplet or Pale Carplet is a freshwater species; a natural inhabitant of ponds, streams, ditches, beels, baors, reservoirs and inundated fields. The species is distributed in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar (Talwar and Jhingran, 1991). In West Bengal it is locally known as mourala, mowa or mowka. It is a popular food fish here in West Bengal due to its good taste as well as high nutrient value with presence of good amount of vitamin A, protein and mineral contents (Zafri and Ahmed, 1981; Saha et al., 2009). In recent times, it has also got its entry in ornamental fish trade and has been reported to be available in ornamental fish markets with moderate demand and availability (Gupta and Banerjee, 2012). Feeding is the dominant activity of the entire life cycle of fish (Royce, 1972) and food is the main source of energy which plays an important role in determining the population levels, rate of growth and condition of fishes (Begum et al., 2008). The success on good scientific planning and management of fish species largely depends on the knowledge of their biological aspects, in which food and feeding habits include a valuable portion (Sarkar and Deepak, 2009). Study of food and feeding habits of fishes have manifold importance in fishery biology and in fisheries management programme (Khan and Fatima, 1994; Sarkar and Deepak, 2009). Like all organisms, fishes require energy to fuel their body machinery and processes, including growth, metabolism and reproduction. For successful fish farming a thorough knowledge about the food and feeding habit is necessary (Bhuiyan et al., 2006; Begum et al., 2008). As the nature of food depends to a great extent upon the nature of environment, the problem is interesting from specific, as well as ecological point of view. The food and feeding habit of fishes vary from season to season; seasonal change in temperature not only influence food consumption and rate of digestion but also quality and quantity of available food organisms. Earlier detail work on food and feeding habit of Amblypharyngodon mola have been carried out in Bangladesh (Mustafa, 1991; Miah and Siddique, 1992; Mamun et al., 2004) but the same is lacking here in India except the work of Piska et al. (1991). So, the present work has been conducted to study the food and feeding habit of Amblypharyngodon mola. Materials and Methods Monthly samples of Amblypharyngodon mola have been collected from September, 2009 to August, 2010 from an undisturbed wetland near Baruipur, South-24-Paraganas, West Bengal, India (Latitude N 22°34’, Longitude E 88°43’). In total, 240 specimens have been collected during the entire study period for studying the feeding biology. After collection, fish specimens have been transferred to ice box and morphometric study has then been performed after reaching laboratory. Total Length (TL) in cm has been measured for each of the individual fish from tip of the mouth to tip of the caudal fin using a measuring scale to the nearest of 0.1 cm and the Total Body Weight (TBW) in grams has been measured for each individual fish species to the nearest of 0.01 gm using an electronic balance (Sartorius, Model No. BT 223S). Before weighing, each of the specimens has been washed with water and left exposed to air and the excess of moisture has been dried off with the help of a blotting paper for taking accurate weight. After that fish specimens have been dissected and then gut has been removed carefully. Then Total Weight of Gut (TWG) and Total Length of Gut (TLG) have been measured to the nearest of 0.01 gm and 0.1 cm respectively. Gastro Somatic Index (GaSI), Relative Length of Gut (RLG), Gut Fullness & Feeding Intensity and Gut Content Analysis have been done to study the food and feeding habit of Amblypharyngodon mola. Gastro Somatic Index (GaSI) has been measured using the following equation: Total Weight of Gut (gm) x 100 GaSI = ----------------------------------------Total Body Weight (gm) Relative Length of Gut (RLG) value has been measured following the formula (Al-Hussaini, 1949): Total Length of Gut (cm) RLG = ---------------------------------------Total Body Length (cm) The RLG values calculated have then been grouped in response to different size classes (length interval of 1.0 cm) to know any change of RLG value in respect to size. After that gut fullness has been assessed according to the subjective scale described by Lebedev (1946) as empty, 1⁄4 full, 1⁄2 full, 3⁄4 full and full. The data have then been used to calculate the monthly Fullness Index (FI) to determine the percentage of feeding intensity: Number of gut with same degree of fullness x 100 FI = ---------------------------------------------Total number of gut examined Gut Content Analysis has been performed following two methods; namely Percentage of Occurrence (Hynes, 1950) and Points
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