Abstract
A study was conducted to examine the feeding ecology of Barbus arabicus, a fish species endemic to Saudi Arabia. The specimens of B. arabicus were collected from Beesh Dam, Jazan region. The various types of food recovered from the stomach of fishes indicated that it is an omnivorous fish. The results obtained indicated that this fish species prefer to feed on phytoplankton mostly on the members of bacillariophyceae. There were insignificant differences in the quality of food consumed by the fishes of different size groups. The frequency of occurrence of various food items in the diet of B. arabicus of various sizes was high. The higher values of diet overlap index showed the sharing of various food items by B. arabicus of different sizes. The highest overlap index (0.98) was recorded in winter between group1 and group3 whereas the lowest (0.67) in fall between group2 and group3. The diet breadth index for all size groups were between 0.30-0.588 and showed little variation among the fishes of various sizes in different seasons.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 39-45 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Life Science Journal |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | SPL.ISSUE11 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Diet breadth index
- Diet overlapping
- Frequency of occurrence
- Freshwater fish