Role of morphometry in determining the feeding success of small freshwater fish species: Multivariate analysis of Amblypharyngodon mola, Puntius ticto, and Esomus danricus

Abstract

Abstract. Factor and multiple regression analysis were used to extract the morphometric variables that contributed to feeding success in three small freshwater fishes. Of the first two factors, factor 1, showed high loading of gut weight (GW), length of the upper (UJ), and lower jaws (LJ) in mola, Amblypharyngodon mola (Hamilton), and GW and vertical mouth opening (VMO) in punti, Puntius ticto (Hamilton). In darikana, Esomus danricus (Hamilton), GW, horizontal mouth opening (HMO), and VMO were highly loaded on factor 2. Gut length (GL) was closely associated with GW of all three species. Subsequently, variables with high loading on factors 1 or 2 were subjected to multiple regression analysis to observe their effect on feeding success, considering GW as the dependent variable and the extracted variables as the independent variable. In A. mola, HMO and GL influenced GW, whereas in P. ticto, only GL determined GW in the fish. In E. danricus, GL, VMO, and HMO exerted a low effect on GW. Exceptionally, the present study suggested that feeding success in small fishes is largely determined by UJ, LJ, and GL or mouth openings.

pH and Temperature Dependent Gut Enzyme Niche in a Stomachless Herbivorous Freshwater Fish <i>Amblypharyngodon mola</i> (Hamilton, 1822)

“…In IUCN databases, this fish is recorded as "least concern', although unreported cases of vast loss of the habitat of this species have occurred. Several research works have been carried out on its growth, longevity [11][12][13][14], feeding [15,16] and reproductive biology [17][18][19]. However, the biochemical feature of the gut has not been considered while characterizing its nature of feeding.…”