Food and feeding behaviour of Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus Peters) from Borna Reservoir of Maharashtra, India
Abstract
The food analysis of 80 specimens of Oreochromis mossambicus collected from Borna Reservoir of Maharashtra, India revealed that the food of juveniles mainly consisted of rotifers (35%), followed by copepods (30%), Chlorophyceae (20%), Bacillariophyceae (10%) and aquatic insects (5%). While the food items recorded in the gut of adults were Chlorophyceae (40%), followed by Bacillariophyceae (30%), rotifers (15%), copepods (10%) and aquatic insects (5%). During present study it was found that the juveniles of O. mossamobicus mainly feed on zooplankton, and adults on phytoplankton. Intense feeding was noticed during summer season and juveniles were the active feeders.
References
Anna Mercy TV, Raju Thomas K and Eapen Jacob (2002) Food and feeding habits of Puntius melanampyx (Day) - an endemic ornamental fish of the Western Ghats. In: riverine and reservoir Fisheries of India (Eds. Boopendranath MR, Meenakumari B, Jose Joseph, Sankar TV, Pravin P and Leela Edwin), pp. 172-175, Society of Fisheries Technologists (India), Cochin.
Aravindan CM (1980) Food selection and feeding habits of Tilapia mossambica Peters in different ecological habitats. Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy B 46(1): 54-57.
Arthi T, Najarajan S, and Sivakumar AA (2011) Food and feeding habits of two freshwater fishes, Ompak bimaculatus and O. malabaricus of river Amaravathy, Tamil Nadu. The Bioscan 6(3): 417-420.
Bhuiyan AS, Afroz S and Zaman T (2006) Food and feeding habit of the juvenile and adult snake head, Channa punctatus (Bloch). Journal of Life and Earth Science 1(2): 53-54.
Choudhuri Sagarika (2010) Food and feeding strategy of an indigenous ornamental fish- Puntius conchonius. Fishing Chimes 29(10): 72-74.
De Moor FC, Wilkinson RC and Helene M Herbst (1986) Food and feeding habits of Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters) in hypertrophic Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa. South African Journal of Zoology 21(2): 170-176.
Hora SL and Pillay TVR (1962) Hand Book on Fish Culture in the Indo Pacific Region. FAO Fisheries Biology Technical Paper 14: 204 pp.
Hynes HBN (1950) The food of freshwater stickleback with a review of the methods used in studies of food of fishes. Journal of Animal Ecology 191: 36-58.
Indira R, Prabhu Arachi JMA and Varadharajan D (2013) Food and feeding habits of tilapiine cichlid fish Oreochromis mossambicus (Peters) from Pichavaram Mangrove, South East Coast of India. International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Archives 4(1): 157-169.
Jesu Arockia Raj A, Haniffa MA, Seetharaman S and Singh SP (2004) Food and feeding habits on endemic catfish Mystus montanus (Jerdon) in river Tambaraparani. Indian Journal of Fisheries 51(1): 107-109.
Kanwal BPS and Pathani SS (2012) Food and feeding habits of a hill stream fish, Garra lamta (Hamilton-Buchanan) in some tributaries of Suyal River, Kumaun Himalaya, Uttarakhand (India). International Journal of Food and Nutrition Science 1(2): 16-22.
Kohli MPS and Goswami UC (1996) Food and feeding habits of Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) from the Brahmaputra River system, Assam. Indian Journal of Fisheries 43(1): 97-101.
Kumar R, Sharma BK and Sharma LL (2007) Food and feeding habits of Catla catla (Hamilton-Buchanan) from Daya Reservoir, Udaipur, Rajasthan. Indian Journal of Animal Research 41(4): 266-269.
Padmakumar KG, Bindu L, Sreerekha PS and Joseph Nitta (2009) Food and feeding behaviour of the golden catfish, Horabagrus brachysoma (Gunther). Indian Journal of Fisheries 56(2): 139-142.
Pennak WR (1953) Freshwater Invertebrates of United States. The Ronald Press Company, New York.
Ross ST (1986) Resource partitioning in fish assemblages: A review of field studies. Copeia 2: 352-388.
Saikia AK, Abujam SKS and Biswas SP (2012) Food and feeding habit of Channa punctatus (Bloch) from the paddy field of Sivsagar district, Assam. Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology and Life Sciences 1(5): 10-15.
Sakhare VB (2010) Food and Feeding habit of common carp, Cyprinus carpio (Linn.). Fishing Chimes 30(1): 180-182.
Sakhare VB and Chalak AD (2014a) Food and feeding habits of Clarias batrachus (Linnaeus, 1758) from Ambajogai, Maharashtra, India. Journal of Fisheries 2(2): 148-150.
Sakhare VB and Chalak AD (2014b) Food and feeding of Catla catla (Hamilton) from water bodies around Ambajogai, Maharashtra. Ecology Environment & Conservation 20(2): 783-785.
Serajuddin M, Khan AA. and Mutsafa S (1998) Food and feeding habits of the spiny eel, Mastacembelus armatus. Asian Fisheries Science 11: 271-278.
Singh RK and Shukla SN (2014) Ecobiology of Tilapia mossambica at Rani Talab, Rewa (M.P.): A Review. International Journal of Scientific Research 3(3): 377-378.
Vass KF and Hofstede AE (1952) Studies on Tilapia mossambica Peters (ikan mudjair) in Indonesia, Contributions of the Central Inland Fisheries Research Station, Bogor, Indonesia, 1: 1-68.
Ward HB and Whipple GC (1959) Freshwater Biology (2nd edition), John Wiley & Sons Inc.; New York, USA.
