Some aspects of morphometric relationship and food and feeding in Caranx carangus (Bloch) from Tuticorin

Abstract

The paired comparisons of morphometric characters of Caranx carangus reveal that all the four variables; fork length, body depth, eye diameter and wet weight have a very high significant relationship with total length. Regression equations are given for the four pairs of comparisons, along with the correlation coefficient V and students Y. The food and feeding study reveals that the dominant food was fish followed by crustaceans like prawns and crabs. Stolephorus was the dominant food and preferred well by Caranx carangus, followed by sardines, Leiognathus, Metapenaeus spp., Thrissocles, Penaeus indicus and Portunus pelagicus as indicated by the index of preponderance. Except in certain months there was a high correlation between the relative condition (Kn) and the volume of food. The young ones measuring upto 149 mm sustain themselves only on prawns and those bigger than 150 mm thrive mainly on fish, prawn and crab in that order.