Feeding behavior of Mugil cephalus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Nigeria

Abstract

The present study is aimed to provide information on the abundance of natural foods needed by Mugil
cephalus in the Elechi Creek. The natural food of M. cephalus in the Elechi Creek was studied from
stomach contents of the fish. The stomach contents were analyzed using two methods; the frequency
of occurrence and numerical methods. Plant materials, diatoms, algae and dinoflagellates constituted
its main food. Plant materials were found to be the most preferable food where it occurred in 67.0% of
the examined fish. Annelids, fish larva, fish parts, insect parts and crustaceans comprised the food of
animal origin. Sand/mud and organic matter occurred in about 11.0 and 73.0% of the examined
stomachs respectively. These results indicate that M. cephalus is omnivorous plant materials were the
most abundant food items by numerical and occurrence methods in the gut of the fish species.