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Feeding habits of three sparid breams, Argyrops spinifer Forsskål, 1775, Sparidentex hasta Valenciennes, 1830, and Rhabdosargus niger Tanaka & Iwatsuki, 2013 (family: Sparidae) in the coastal waters of Pakistan

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Abstract

The availability of data on the feeding habits of sparid fishes from the north Arabian Sea is very scarce. In the present study, a total of 1,148 sparid fishes were collected from July 2012 to June 2013 ranging from 75 to 100 fish specimens on monthly basis. The diet of three sparid species was determined based on feeding intensity or vacuity index (%VI), numerical abundance (%Cn), and frequency of occurrence (%Co) of each dietary group by examining stomachs of 475 specimens of Argyrops spinifer, 169 of Sparidentex hasta, and 504 of Rhabdosargus niger. The overall highest vacuity index (59.76%) was found for S. hasta, followed by A. spinifer (51.37%) and R. niger (40%), whereas seasonal and size variation among the three species were also noted. The diet contents of these species consisted of sixteen major groups: teleost, brachyuran, penaeids, stomatopods, palinurids, anomurans, gastropods, pelecypods, nudibranch, echinoderms, cephalopods, cirripeds, amphipods, isopods, polychaetes, and marine algae. The percent index of relative importance (%IRI) was used to explain each dietary group consumed by A. spinifer, S. hasta, and R. niger. One-way ANOSIM (analysis of similarities) result shows that the examined sparid species are somewhat identical in consumption of major diet groups (R=0.81; p= 0.007). A pairwise ANOSIM value of 0.192 between A. spinifer and S. hasta is found closer than A. spinifer and R. niger (0.093 ) whereas S. hasta and R. niger (0.102) showed closer diet contents with A. spinifer and R. niger (0.093).

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to the anonymous reviewers and the editorial comments that helped us to improve this manuscript. The second author greatly acknowledges the support of the director, Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology, University of Karachi, for providing this opportunity and allocating some funds for carrying out the MPhil research work.

Funding

This study was supported by the director, Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology, University of Karachi, who allocated some funds for carrying out 1st author MPhil’s research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology (CEMB), University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

    Pirzada J. A. Siddiqui, Farkhanda Khan & Shahnaz Rashid

  2. National Centre for Maritime Policy Research, Bahria University, Karachi, Pakistan

    Safia Mushtaq

  3. Fisheries Development Board, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Habib Ul Hassan

  4. Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Garden Avenue, Shakarprian, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Shabir Ali Amir

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  1. Pirzada J. A. Siddiqui
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  2. Farkhanda Khan
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  3. Shahnaz Rashid
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  4. Safia Mushtaq
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Contributions

Pirzada J. A. Siddiqui supervised all the research work; Farkhanda Khan carried out the major research of this paper including field sampling and manuscript writing; Shahnaz Rashid helped in the collection and examination of fish specimens; Safia Mushtaq sorted and identified stomach contents; Habibul Hasan helped in the collection of three species of Sparidae; Shabir Ali Amir helped in the collection of fish species, data analysis, and also writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shabir Ali Amir.

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Communicated by S. E. Lluch-Cota

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Siddiqui, P.J.A., Khan, F., Rashid, S. et al. Feeding habits of three sparid breams, Argyrops spinifer Forsskål, 1775, Sparidentex hasta Valenciennes, 1830, and Rhabdosargus niger Tanaka & Iwatsuki, 2013 (family: Sparidae) in the coastal waters of Pakistan. Mar. Biodivers. 52, 27 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-022-01264-6

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