Feeding Habits of a Freshwater Catfish, Clupisoma naziri (Pisces: Schilbidae) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rivers, Pakistan

Khan U. K., Hasan Z., Inayatullah M., Jan A.

PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, vol.46, no.4, pp.1166-1169, 2014 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 46 Issue: 4
  • Publication Date: 2014
  • Journal Name: PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.1166-1169
  • Karadeniz Technical University Affiliated: No

Abstract

Gut content analysis was used to evaluate the daily dietary habit of Clupisoma naziri in Indus and Kabul rivers, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. A total of 216 adult C. naziri were collected from summer till winter of 2011, 33.8% of examined catfish were found with empty stomach, while 66.2% fish had small aquatic and terrestrial insects. Of all the items 63.4% of food was comprised of terrestrial insects, while the rest was from aquatic sources. Furthermore, several algae taxa were also found in the diet of adult C. naziri as an important ingredient of its daily diet including; Cyanophyceae (46.5%), Bacillariophyceae (29.6%), Chlorophyceae (16.9%).