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Research Article
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Diet Composition in Larval Fishes of the Family Terapontidae (Actinopterygii: Perciformes) in the Seagrass-bed of Johor Strait, Malaysia |
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A. Arshad,
R. Ara,
S.M.N. Amin
and
A.G. Mazlan
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ABSTRACT
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Stomach content of fish larvae of family Terapontidae were studied in samples acquired from Merambong Shoal, south western part of Johor, Malaysia from December 2007 to September 2008. Larvae were collected by subsurface towing of a Bongo net. Stomachs were removed from a total of 117 Terapontidae specimens during the study period and the stomach contents were fully examined. Analyses of prey in the stomach showed 24 important food items belonging to six major groups viz., phytoplankton, zooplankton, algae, plant-like matter, debris and unidentified matters. The predominant food items found in the stomach were phytoplankton (74.25%). This was followed by plant matters (8.02%), algae (6.69%), zooplankton (4.95%), debris (3/65%) and unidentified matters (2.45%). Among the food items, phytoplankton was the first rank by simple resultant index (74.25%). Therefore, it could be concluded that the fish larvae of family Terapontidae are mainly herbivorous.
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Received: July 02, 2012;
Accepted: August 10, 2012;
Published: February 11, 2013
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INTRODUCTION
The area Merambong Shoal is located within the single largest seagrass bed
in Peninsular Malaysia. Seagrasses afford an important role for feeding, breeding
and nursery to a number of aquatic organisms. Some organisms use seagrass habitat
as nursery areas, others seek shelter there for their entire lives. Seagrasses
are one of the most productive marine ecosystems of Mauritius and often occur
in close connection to coral reefs (Daby, 2001, 2003).
Different types of food are consumed by different fishes and feeding pattern
of fishes varies from season to season. A dietary preference in the larval stages
is therefore an important component in the assessment of feeding conditions
and larval chances of meeting food requirement (Robichaud-LeBlanc
et al., 1997). A lack of empirical data on the diets of fish larvae
in the wild, however, again leads to a reliance on results from aquaculture
study (Humphries et al., 1999). The outputs about
the diet composition of fish larvae from the present study can be applied for
the development of aquaculture.
Various studies have been carried out in terms of food and feeding habits of
the adult fishes (Chrisfi et al., 2007; Dadzie
et al., 2000; Davis and Pusey, 2010; Jardas
et al., 2007) but there are limited information about the feeding
habits of larval fishes (Ara et al., 2009, 2010,
2011a; Grabowska and Grabowski,
2005; Kakareko et al., 2005). Therefore,
the present study was undertaken to assess the feeding habits and diet composition
of larval fishes of the most dominant Terapontidae family in the seagrass ecosystem
of Merambong Shoal, Johor Strait, Malaysia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study area and sample collection: The study was conducted in seagrass
bed of Merambong Shoal, Johor Strait (N 01°19.414'; E 103°35.628') (Fig.
1). Monthly sampling was conducted during full moon/new moon period in daylight,
at high tide between December 2007 to September 2008. Samples of fish larvae
were collected by using Bongo net (mesh size 500 μm, mouth diameter 0.3
m and length 1.3 m) through 30 min subsurface tow from seagrass area.
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Fig. 1: |
Geographical local of sampling station (star) in the seagrass
beds of Sungai Pulai estuary, Johor Strait, Malaysia |
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Fig. 2: |
Biological sketch of Terapontidae larvae |
Table 1: |
Total number of larval fishes Terapontidae family was taken
for the study of feeding habits |
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A flowmeter (Hydro-Bios) was attached to the net in order to determine the
volume of the water filtered. After each tow, samples were immediately fixed
in 5% formalin and then all specimens were transported to the laboratory for
further analysis.
Sample processing and identification: In laboratory, the fish larvae
were sorted from the rest of the zooplankton and they were preserved in 75%
alcohol. Individuals of Terapontidae larvae (Fig. 2) were
identified to the family level using the appropriate literature (Leis
and Carson-Ewart, 2000; Russell, 1976; Okiyama,
1988; Ghaffar et al., 2010).
Stomach examination: In total 117 terapontidae (Table 1) were taken for stomach examination. Total length for each species was measured prior to dissection using Keyence digital microscope (VHX-500). The mean length of Terapontidae larvae was varied from 1.90-4.93 mm. The fish larva was laid on a counter slide and a dropped of water was laid onto it. The stomach sac was carefully sorted from the larvae body using a probe under a stereomicroscope. The stomach contents were then shattered using a fine needle. A drop of distilled water was dripped onto the stomach content and the cover glass was laid on the slide to keep the thickness of each food items as equivalent as possible. The food items and the numbers were counted and identified to the possible lowest taxonomy under the microscope. Stomach content analysis: To analyze the composition of the stomach content, the percentages frequency of occurrences and the percentages of numerical abundance were followed:
where Nli is the number of the stomachs in which food item
i was found Np is the number of non-empty stomachs (Chrisfi
et al., 2007):
where, ni is the number of ith food items and m is the number of
food items (Chrisfi et al., 2007).
The relative importance of the food items were assessed and calculated by simple
resultant index (%Rs) according to Mohan and Sankaran (1988):
where, Ci is the percentages numerical abundances and Fpi is the percentages frequency of occurrence. RESULTS
Stomach content compositions: The overall diet compositions of fish
larvae from family Terapontidae ranked by simple resultant index (%Rs) are presented
in Table 2.
Table 2: |
Overall diet composition of Terapontidae larvae ranked by
simple resultant index (%Rs) |
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Ci: Percentage numerical abundance, Fpi:
Percentage frequency of occurrence, %Rs: Simple resultant index |
The analysis of food item in the gut showed that the most important prey according
to the %Rs were phytoplankton (75%). This is followed by plant-likes matter
(8%), algae (7%), zooplankton (5%), debris (4%) and unidentified materials (3%).
Monthly variation of diet compositions: Monthly percentage frequency of occurrence (Fpi) of food items in the 117 stomachs of Terapontidae are showed in Table 3. The highest occurrences of phytoplankton were in January (80%). The highest zooplankton was found in April (35.71%), plant-like matters were in May (17.20%), same things goes for debris (16.07%) occurred in June. While, in the highest occurrence of algae was observed in December (27.78%). Furthermore the highest occurrences of unidentified materials were in September (10.71%). Numerical abundances (Ci) of food items in the stomachs of Terapontidae are given in Table 4. Most dominant food item phytoplankton was the highest in December (86.07%) and the lowest in February (49.72%). However, the highest zooplankton was found in March (17.5%) whereas the lowest was in July (0.38%). Algal component was observed around the year consistently and varied between 3.67% (February) and 12.50% (December).
Table 3: |
Monthly (December-September) percentage frequency of occurrence
(Fpi) of food items in the guts of Terapontidae larvae |
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Table 4: |
Monthly (December-September) percentage of numerical abundance
(Ci) of food items in the guts of Terapontidae larvae |
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DISCUSSION
Our study indicates that the Terapontidae larvae are herbivore. According to
the overall data, their main preys were the phytoplanktons. This prey group
represents 74.25% of simple resultant index (%Rs) in Terapontidae (Table
2). Phytoplankton was observed in the stomach of fish larvae in every month
around the year and overall annual percent was 82.53% which is slightly higher
than the present study (Ara et al., 2011b).
Among the phytoplanktons, Chromophyta (29.12%) was the highest, followed by
Nitzschia baccata (15.95%) and Dactylococcopsis fascicularis (13.80%)
(Table 2). The choice of specific group of diets could be
attributed to the opportunistic behavior of the larvae. This is supported by
the report of Ara et al. (2010) who stated that
Chromophyta is naturally dominant in the Sungai Pulai seagrass ecosystem for
their abundance.
Among zooplanktons, Thaliacians (1.18) was the highest quantity and most important food items in the stomachs of Terapontidae fish larvae (Table 2). The second and third items were Copepod (1.14). Marine fish larvae that hatch and grow in nature typically feed on zooplanktons in their surrounding environment.
Encounter rates may be critical factor for larval feeding success because the
early larval stage of most fishes is characterized by poor swimming ability
and image acuity (Margulies, 1990). Several predominantly
herbivorous fishes in the family Terapontidae are found across northern Australia
in catchments characterised by a wide range of water transparencies (Allen
et al., 2002; Pusey et al., 2004).
Furthermore, instead of phytoplankton and zooplankton, the other important
food items consumed by the fish larvae are plant-like matters (dried roots,
stems, grass leaves and unidentified parts of plant), algae and debris. From
the recent study it is proven that planktonic shrimp A. indicus is omnivorous
where the major food items was plant-like matter (Amin et
al., 2007). The various food items consumed by the larvae indicate that
the fish larvae of Terapontidae families are herbivore.
CONCLUSION Stomachs sac were removed from a total of 117 Terapontidae specimens during the study period and the contents were examined. In total 24 important items belonging to six major groups phytoplankton, zooplankton, algae, plant-like matter, debris and unidentified matters were identified in the stomachs. According to simple resultant index (Rs), the predominant food items found in their stomach were phytoplankton is 74%. Since the study on feeding habits and diet composition of larval fishes have various importance in fishery biology, hopefully the knowledge from this study can be used as information for successful fish aquaculture and development. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research was supported by the research grant provided by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Malaysia (Grant No. 5450247). Technical assistance and logistics were provided by the Universiti Putra Malaysia. The authors also acknowledge all the local fishermen for their assistance during field sampling.
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