Dry-salted mackerel and pink perch were stored at two temperatures: ambient (26.8_+ 3.3"C) and 2 5 f 1°C. Changes in moisture content, salt content, water activity (a,), peroxide value (PV), free fatty acid content (FFA), total volatile base nitrogen (TVBN) content, halophilic bacterial count and sensory scores for overall acceptability were studied. Loss of moisture and absorption of salt were considerably higher in the products stored at ambient temperature. The decrease in a, was more pronounced at ambient temperature than at the lower temperature. Although the chemical indices of freshness (PV, FFA and TVBN) and the halophilic counts showed increasing trends, they were considerably lower in the products stored at the lower temperature. Sensory evaluation for overall acceptability indicated that storage at the lower temperature could considerably extend the shelf-life of salted fish.

The food and feeding habits of the marine cat fish, Osteogeneiosus militaris (Linn.,1758) off Mumbai waters was studied. The species was found to be carnivorous and predacious in feeding habit. Index of preponderance values indicated that, it feeds mainly on crustaceans (shrimps, crabs), molluscs (bivalves, squids) and small fishes (Coilia spp., ribbon fish). Among the food groups, crustaceans dominate throughout the year in comparison to molluscs and fishes. In the crustacean group, Acetes spp. was found to be the dominant food item contributing to 43.34 per cent followed by penaeid shrimps, which shared 27.65 per cent of the total food in all the months. Analysis of month-wise percentage food composition revealed that, the species fed the highest percentage of Acetes spp. during the month of November (34.92%) while penaeid shrimps was consumed in the largest percentage in January (35.10%). With respect to the size (length) of the fish, the percentage of Acetes spp. as a food item was highest (52.99%) for the length group of 391-420 mm and lowest (25.64%) for 361-390 mm. The guts were found to be empty for fishes having length of more than 420 mm. Results of the feeding intensity delineated that, the species is not a voracious feeder as none of the individuals studied was found to have gorged or full stomach over the entire period of investigation. Among the different length groups, the highest feeding fishes were in the length group of 211-240 mm. Gastro-somatic index was highest during August for males and during November for females while the pooled value was highest in January (3.206).

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The meristic and morphometric characters as well as the length-weight relationship and condition factor of the marine cat fish, Osteogeneiosus militaris (Linn.,1758) off Mumbai waters was investigated. Based on the meristic characters, the fin formula can be written as; D I, 7 , P I, 10-11 , V 6 , A 18-22 , C 17-19. The morphometric characters of indicated high degree of correlation among the compared characters. The length-weight relationship of the species is given as, W = 0.000006 L 3.05 for females, W = 0.000008 L 3.01 for males and W = 0.000007 L 3.03 for pooled sexes which implies that the species found off Mumbai waters has isometric growth. The coefficient of correlation between length and weight was found to be very high (r = 0.981, 0.962 and 0.977) for females, males and sexes pooled, respectively. The condition factor was found to be higher for females than those of the males. This indicates that females are in better condition compared to males. The seasonal variation observed in the condition factor for both the sexes could be related to reproductive cycle and feeding.