TY  - JOUR
T1  - Dietary Items and Feeding Habits of Big Eye Grunt <I>Brachydeuterus auritus</I> (Valenciennes, 1832)
AU - Adebiyi, Fatimat Adenike 
JO  - Journal of Fisheries International
VL  - 7
IS  - 1
SP  - 1
EP  - 5
PY  - 2012
DA  - 2001/08/19
SN  - 1817-3381
DO  - jfish.2012.1.5
UR  - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=jfish.2012.1.5
KW  - Big eye grunt
KW  -Brachydeuterus auritus
KW  -dietary items
KW  -feeding habits
KW  -Lagos coast
KW  -stomach content
AB  - Dietary items and feeding habits of big eye <I>Brachydeuterus auritus</I> off the Lagos coast, Nigeria were investigated. Analysis of stomach content was done by numerical, occurrence and volumetric methods. The dietary items of <I>B. auritus</I> were crustaceans, fishes, annelids, nematodes, blue-green algae and diatoms. Crustaceans and fishes formed the major dietary item of <I>B. auritus</I> and accounted for 29.5 and 6.1% by number, 52.0 and 23.4% by occurrence and 62.4 and 15.0% by volume. <I>B. auritus</I> is a non-piscivorous predatory fish, other macroscopic animals formed part of the major diet. Crustaceans was the most prominent dietary item followed by algae and then fish in the dry season (January-April) and wet season (May-September). This study will increase the knowledge of fisheries biology of <I> B. auritus</I> by contributing to the trophic structure of <I>B. auritus</I> in the Lagos coast and is relevant for fishery management and aquaculture of <I>B. auritus</I>.
ER  -