Food Preference and Niche Breadth of Largehead Hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus, 1758) Caught in Pangandaran Waters, West Java

Et Al., Setyobudi

doi:10.21608/ejabf.2024.374293

Food Preference and Niche Breadth of Largehead Hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus Linnaeus, 1758) Caught in Pangandaran Waters, West Java

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Setyobudi et al.

10.21608/ejabf.2024.374293

Abstract

The commercially important largehead hairtail, Trichiurus lepturus, serves a crucial ecological role in the environment as a controller of mid- and lower-trophic populations through prey and predation processes. This study attempted to identify the composition, preferred foods, and food-niche breadth of hairtail captured in Pangandaran waters, West Java, Indonesia. A total of 234 fish samples caught using the fisherman's hand lines and gill nets were observed. Body weight, digestive tract length, diet composition, and body length were all measured for each sample. The length distribution, relative gut length, food composition, index of preponderance (IP), trophic level, niche breadth, and food overlapping were among the data examined. The largehead hairtail is a carnivorous fish with a trophic level of 4.42. The primary food items consumed by the hairtail were fish and shrimp (IP = 57.89 and 39.68%, respectively). Competition among fish sizes to get food is relatively low, and the type of food composition increases along with increasing body size.

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