Dinh Minh Quang, Tran Thanh Lam, Nguyen Thi Kieu Tien

Main Article Content

Abstract

This study provides an understanding of the feeding habit and intensity of the mudskipper Periophthalmodon septemradiatus, which was a potential aquarium pet, by analyzing its relative gut length (RGL) and gastro-somatic (GaSI) indexes. Fish specimens were caught with fishing rods in an area from the Hau River’s estuary in Soc Trang province to its upstream in An Giang province during a period of one year from August 2017 to July 2018. The analysis of 1,504 fish samples shows that RGL did not change by fish size, resulting in no change in the feeding habit of P. septemradiatus in relation to its size. By contrast, the feeding habit of this mudskipper varied by site, month and season of sample collection; accordingly, the RGL was also significantly different by site, month and season of sample collection; both the male and female fish fell into the carnivorous as the RGL was <1. Similarly, the feeding intensity of this species did not change by fish size, as the GaSI was not significantly different among the four fish size groups. Meanwhile, the mudskipper displayed spatial, temporal and seasonal variations in the feeding intensity since the GaSI significantly changed by site, month and season. The changes in the feeding habit and intensity of P. Septemradiatus were not regulated by the interaction between fish size and site, fish size and season, and site and season. These results provide new knowledge on the feeding habit and intensity of this fish species, which also helps understand the fish’s adaption and conservation in the study area.


Keywords


Astro-somatic index, mudskipper, Periophthalmodon septemradiatus, relative gut length


References


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[8] Khaironizam, M. Z. & Norma-Rashid, Y., First record of the mudskipper, Periophthalmodon septemradiatus (Hamilton) (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from Peninsular Malaysia, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 51 (2003) 97-100.
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[10] Vo, T. T. & Tran, D. D., Study on nutritional characteristics of Oxyeleotris urophthalmus fish distributed along the Hau River, Can Tho University Journal of Science, Fishery (2014) 192-197.
[11] Dinh, Q. M., Nguyen, D. T. & Danh, S., Food and feeding habits of the broadheah sleeper Eleotris melanosoma from coastline in Soc Trang, Proceedings of the 7th National Scientific Conference on Ecology and Biological Resources, Publishing house for Science and Technology, 1873-1879, 2017.
[12] Tran, D. D., Some aspects of biology and population dynamics of the goby Pseudapocryptes elongatus (Cuvier, 1816) in the Mekong Delta, PhD thesis, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 2008.
[13] Dinh, Q. M., Qin, J. G., Dittmann, S. & Tran, D. D., Seasonal variation of food and feeding in burrowing goby Parapocryptes serperaster (Gobiidae) at different body sizes, Ichthyological Research, 64 (2017) 179-189.
[14] Dinh, Q. M. & Tran, M. T. D., Digestive tract morphology, food and feeding habits of the goby Stigmatogobius pleurostigma (Bleeker, 1849) from the Coastline in Soc Trang, VNU Journal of Science: Natural Sciences and Technology, 34 (2018) 46-55.

Keywords: gastrosomatic index, mudskipper, Periophthalmodon septemradiatus, relative gut length

References

[1] Murdy, E. O. & Jaafar, Z., Taxonomy and systematics review, In: Z. Jaafar, E. O. Murdy (eds) Fishes out of water: biology and ecology of mudskippers, CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 1-36, 2017
[2] Murdy, E. O., A taxonomic revision and cladistic analysis of the oxudercine gobies (Gobiidae, Oxudercinae), Australian Museum Journal, 11 (1989) 93.
[3] Murdy, E., Systematics of Oxudercinae, In: R. A. Patzner, J. L. V. Tassell, M. Kovacic, B. G. Kapoor (eds) The biology of gobies, Science Publishers, New Hampshire, United States, pp. 99-106, 2011
[4] Bhatt, N. Y., Patel, S. J., Patel, D. A. & Patel, H. P., Burrowing activities of goby fish in the recent intertidal mud flats along the Navinal coast, Kachchh, Western India, Journal of the Geological Society of India, 74 (2009) 515-530.
[5] Al-Hussaini, A. H., On the functional morphology of the alimentary tract of some fish in relation to differences in their feeding habits: anatomy and histology, Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 3 (1949) 109-139.
[6] Desai, V. R., Studies on fishery and biology of Tor tor (Hamilton) from river Narmada. I. Food and feeding habits, Journal of the Inland Fisheries Society of India, 2 (1970) 101-112.
[7] Le, T., Nguyen, M. T., Nguyen, V. P., Nguyen, D. C., Pham, X. H., Nguyen, T. S., Hoang, V. C., Hoang, P. L., Le, H. & Dao, N. C., Provinces and City in the Mekong Delta, Education Publishing House, Ha Noi, 2006.
[8] Khaironizam, M. Z. & Norma-Rashid, Y., First record of the mudskipper, Periophthalmodon septemradiatus (Hamilton) (Teleostei: Gobiidae) from Peninsular Malaysia, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 51 (2003) 97-100.
[9] Wand, M. P., Data-based choice of histogram bin width, The American Statistician, 51 (1997)
59-64.
[10] Vo, T. T. & Tran, D. D., Study on nutritional characteristics of Oxyeleotris urophthalmus fish distributed along the Hau River, Can Tho University Journal of Science, Fishery (2014) 192-197.
[11] Dinh, Q. M., Nguyen, D. T. & Danh, S., Food and feeding habits of the broadheah sleeper Eleotris melanosoma from coastline in Soc Trang, Proceedings of the 7th National Scientific Conference on Ecology and Biological Resources, Publishing house for Science and Technology, 1873-1879, 2017.
[12] Tran, D. D., Some aspects of biology and population dynamics of the goby Pseudapocryptes elongatus (Cuvier, 1816) in the Mekong Delta, PhD thesis, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 2008.
[13] Dinh, Q. M., Qin, J. G., Dittmann, S. & Tran, D. D., Seasonal variation of food and feeding in burrowing goby Parapocryptes serperaster (Gobiidae) at different body sizes, Ichthyological Research, 64 (2017) 179-189.
[14] Dinh, Q. M. & Tran, M. T. D., Digestive tract morphology, food and feeding habits of the goby Stigmatogobius pleurostigma (Bleeker, 1849) from the Coastline in Soc Trang, VNU Journal of Science: Natural Sciences and Technology, 34 (2018) 46-55.