Morphology, Food and Feeding Habit of Goby Fish, Parachaeturichthys ocellatus from the Creeks of Mumbai

Goby fish Parachaeturichthys ocellatus, native to the creeks of Mumbai coast forms a major part of creek fishery for the fishing community inhabiting areas near the creeks. The food and feeding habits of the fish were studied by collecting fish samples every month in from June 2010 to September 2011 from the creeks of Mumbai. The length of the fishes studied ranged between 66mm to 185mm.The body morphology of fish revealed it to be carnivorous benthic and predatory fish. The gut contents of the fish showed the presence of crustaceans as basic food, mollusc and pisces formed the secondary food while detritus formed obligatory food and planktons and other miscellaneous food (larvae of insects, worms, rotiferons, dinoflegellates foraminiferons etc.) were incidental food. An analysis of seasonal variation in food preference and feeding intensity reveal that the male and female P.ocellatus had the same preference throughout the seasons but was different for the juveniles. In P.ocellatus cannibalism was observed, but its occurrence was not regular in the general diet. The relative gut length was 0.68 in male, 0.70 in female and 0.79 in juvenile. The empty guts of P.ocellatus seem to indicate predatory mode of feeding. P.ocellatus occupy the position of secondary and tertiary consumers in the food chain determined by the size and type of the food consumed by the fish.