Feeding habit and pollution indicating food items of Mystus gulio (Hamilton, 1822) in the inward waters of Mumbai coast

Abstract

The study considered factors related to feeding habits such as food, frequency of occurrence (F), feeding index (IA) and vacancy index (VI). The aim was to determine the relationship between the feeding habits of a non-selective, euryphagous, voracious and pollution-tolerant fish species in a contaminated habitat. The seasonal food and feeding pattern of Mystus gulio, long whiskered catfish, from Ulhas river estuary and Thane Creek analysed from stomach content depicted the pollution status of the ambient environment based on the feeding pattern using box-whiskered plot, MDS and cluster analysis. Coconut husk fibres, eggshells, chicken feathers, pieces of brick, sand particles, plastic fibres, etc., represented the non-food component of anthropogenic origin. The presence of non-food items indicates the severely degraded conditions in the study areas, especially in Thane Creek. Although a native fish species tolerant of pollution, the survival of M. gulio in Thane Creek is threatened.

Keywords: Anthropogenic activities; Feeding habit; Mystus gulio; Pollution indicator; Thane Creek; Ulhas River estuary.