The food and feeding habits of the goatfish, Parupeneus barberinus (Lacepede), from Aqaba, Jordan

Abstract

The food habits of the goatfish, Parupeneus barberinus, from Aqaba were studied. A total of 166 fish over a range of 15 to 27.7cm and representing five age groups were examined. The major dietary components, based on occurrence, were crustaceans (82.6%), sand (71.1 Yy), foramniferans (%%), detritus (52.3%) and polychaetes (49%). Based on gravimetric analysis, crustaceans and sand were the major food components comprising 54.4% and 23.3% of the total food weight respectively. The food consumption decreased from 1.5% of body weight in the 2-year group to 0.3% of body weight in the 6-year group. Seasonal variations were observed in relation to food consumption, percentage weight composition and intensity of feeding.

Do the habitats, mouth morphology and diets of the mullids Upeneichthys stotti and U. lineatus in coastal waters of south‐western Australia differ?

“…All species of goatfish are benthic carnivores (Lee, 1973;Hobson, 1974;Munro, 1976;Caragitsou & Tsimenidis, 1982a,b;Wahbeh & Ajiad, 1985;Golani & Galil, 1991;Vassilopoulou & Papaconstantinou, 1993;Golani, 1994). ‡Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.…”

“…Werner & Gilliam, 1984;Ross, 1986;Platell et al, 1997;Platell & Potter, 1998), which are important for understanding fully how co-occurring species might interact. Furthermore, only three studies on individual species of mullids have reported changes in dietary composition with increasing body size (Lee, 1973;Wahbeh & Ajiad, 1985;Vassilopoulou & Papaconstantinou, 1993). In none of these studies were multivariate analyses used to evaluate the influence of factors such as location and season on diet.…”

Goatfishes (Mullidae) as indicators in tropical and temperate coastal habitat monitoring and management

“…Red Sea goatfish, Parupeneus forsskali, ontogenetic shifts in prey search, resource use, shoaling tendency and association with other species based on a field investigation of four size/age classes in the Gulf of Aqaba, Northern Red Sea (Uiblein 1991). Food selection information is based on Wahbeh & Ajiad (1985).…”

“…Intermediate size classes were more often found on hard substrates and were also more often associated with other species. One advantage for the goatfishes to form mixed-species flocks on a hard substrate would be to gain access to damselfish territories where they may dislodge fish eggs, a favourite food source during this life-history period (Wahbeh & Ajiad 1985; Figure 2). …”

“…Apart from species-specific differences, whether goatfishes also undergo ontogenetic shifts in foraging behaviour, diet, and habitat selection during early (McCormick & Molony 1992;McCormick 1995) as well as later life history (Wahbeh & Ajiad 1985;Uiblein 1991;Lukoschek & McCormick 2002b; should also be considered in food web models.…”