Food and Feeding Habits of Puntius Sarana in the River of Padma Rajshahi

Posted on 7th Oct 2024 10:38:49 PM Fisheries


INTRODUCTION

Bangladesh is a country of river and based with a vast of rivers, canals, floodplains and specially the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh is fortunate enough having an extensive and huge water resources with about 6, 27,731 ha of closed water body including 3, 50,595 ha of pond and ditches, 8,556 ha of oxbow lake, 22,382 ha of semi-closed floodplain, 2,46,198 ha shrimp firm and 40, 24,934 ha of open water body including 10, 31,563 ha of River and Estuaries, 1, 14,161 ha of beel, 68,800 ha of kaptai lake and 28, 10,410 ha of flood plain (DoF, 2011). There are 12 exotic fish and 260 fresh water fish species. 

The Padma river in Bangladesh is an important source of many kinds of fishes. The river Padma is one of the perennial rivers of Bangladesh. The river is internationally known as the 'Ganges' in the upstream of slow bound Himalayans at 7000 meter above the sea level. The massive snow water passing after a distance of about 220 km in the Himalayans entered the plain at Haridwar (India). After meandering over a distance of about 2290 km in the Indo-Gangetic plain in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal and lastly entered into the district of Chapai Nawabganj in Bangladesh. Before entering into Bangladesh this mighty Ganges has been divided into two main streams, one is the 'Hoogli' in India and the other is the 'Padma' in Bangladesh. The river Padma is famous for its length, discharge area and for crossing through many districts of Bangladesh. In the plain of Bangladesh, this river runs into the southeast side and joins the Jamuna river at the Goalunda point and then with Meghna at Chandpur and ultimately falls into the Bay of Bengal. The total length of Ganges is 2550 km of which 153 km (6%) falls within Bangladesh territory. The river Padma has a discharge area of about 46,300 km2 i.e. 4.52% of the total Ganges discharge area.

Geographical position of Rajshahi district lies between 24° 13' to 25° 13' N latitude and 88°2' to 89°21' longitude. Rajshahi district stand on the eastern-southern side of the river Padma. The distance between Godagari to Bagha Upazila of the river Padma under Rajshahi district is about 60 km (about 36 miles). The river Padma flows close down to Rajshahi City. The Padma River, has a great seasonal fluctuation in temperature, turbidity, water current and other environmental factors and for that reason the nature of the biotic population also goes on changing. During the months of July to September, the water level goes on increasing with the increase or rainfall and increased flow of water comes from the stream. The flow of water become low during winter season starting from November to January and also the flow of water in the river Padma have largely been affected due to construction of Farakka Barrage (1974) at the upstream. For this reason the flow of water goes down to the minimum during lean season. Eventually, the fisheries resource is largely affected during lean period.

The knowledge of food and feeding habit helps to select such species of fishes for culture as would produce optimum yield by utilizing all the available potential food of the water bodies properly without any competition. The food study helps us to identify good or bad environments and indicates the future course of action for proper fisheries management. It also helps to know inter specific relationship and the productivity of the water bodies. B studying the food and feeding habits, one can understand what programme should be taken for the development for the water bodies to produce more fish. 

The dietary analysis of fishes indicates the tropic segregation pattern among the members of the fish community in that area. Study on the biological aspects of some common freshwater fishes started much earlier in India.

However in order to culture and manage the fish on scientific basis, proper knowledge of food and feeding habits of fish is an important perquisite for the more production. It can help to select such species of fish for culture which would produce optimum yield by utilizing all the available potential food of the water bodies. The knowledge of food habits is a prerequisite to an understanding of interspecific relations, proper management and future study of secondary productivity. 

In Bangladesh generally freshwater fishes are more popular arid consumed that marine fishes and this is due to the fact that the freshwater fishes are more acceptable to the people and besides, marine fishes are not available in most part of the country (Bhuiyan, 1996). But the surveys made by the scientists of both local arid foreign counties showed that the fish wealth in the Bay of Bengal is a potential source for protein supply. Bangladesh is a very densely populated country and most of the people live under the poverty level.

Life of the water consists of three major groups of organisms namely plankton, nekton and benthos. Among these, plankton is of fundamental importance to fisheries. Plankton is also a vital factor influencing the fish production. There are different group of plankton such as phytoplankton (Bacillariophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Euglenophyceae) and Zoopankton (Crustacea, Rotifera). Phytoplankton is the basic of primary producers of all types of water bodies and is used as food by fish directly or indirectly. Most important groups of algae of the phytoplankton are the diatoms (Bacillariophyceae), and are found in the sea, estuaries freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and ditches. 

Sarpunti (Puntius sarana) is one of the small indigenous speices, which was once abundant in rivers and streams and also formed a significant contributing in the catch from ponds, beels, ditches and floodplains throughout the country. It is one of the most favourite and testy fish taken mostly by proper section of the rural mass. Moreover, the flesh contains a significant amount of protein, vitamin, calcium, iron, phosphorus etc. This species is now under severe threat of extinction and need to be put under cultured fishery. 

Sarpunti (Puntius sarana) is a very good and tasty fish by all classes of people in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, the fish is rarely found in the market. The aim of dietary studies of fishes is to understand how they live and grow, what feed may influence their growth and production and the relative abundance of food organisms. The knowledge of food and feeding habits would help in the selection of species for ensuring maximum production through utilization of all available potential food in the waterbodies.

There are very little works have done on the food and feeding habits of fishes notably by Kamal (1967), Dewan (1973), Ghose et al. (1973), Spatrum (1977), Henderson (1978), Ali and Islam (1981), Ameen et al. (1986), Dewan et al. (1997) Rahmatullah et al. (1997) and Shafiqul (2000). But there is hardly any published information on the food and feeding habits of Sarpunti (Puntius sarana) in our country. 

Therefore the present study was undertaken to determine the pattern of food and feeding performance of Sarpunti (Puntius sarana) with the following objectives: 

1. To determine the body and gut length of Sarpunti (Puntius sarana).

2. To estimate the quality and quantity of food eaten by Sarpunti (Puntius sarana) 

3. To determine the season of year and feeding of the fish (Seasonal pattern of feeding).

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted for a period of eight months (June, 2011 to January, 2012) on food and feeding habits of Puntius sarana found in Padma river at Rajshahi, Bangladesh. The aim of this experiment is to establish the relationship between the total length and alimentary canal length, estimate the type and quantity of feed and to determine the season pattern of feed. The establishment of the relationship between total length and the alimentary canal length was done by regression method, the qualitative and quantitative analyzes of stomach and gut contents of each fish were done by percentage of occurrence and point method, fullness of stomach was measured by fullness index method. Sample was collected by survey method and the study period total 120 fishes were collected and about 15 species were taken in each month. The mean value of total length is positively significant (r = 0.969) p < 0.01) with alimentary canal length. The dominant food groups recorded in gut contents were Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and Cyanophyceae. The average percentage of occurance phytoplankton is 74.08% and zooplankton is 25.87%. The fish was found to be an omnivore. The highest percentage of fullness (83%) was recorded August 2011 and the lowest percentage of fullness (55%) was recorded in December, 2012. The highest percentage of vacuity (45%) was recorded in December lowest percentage of vacuity (17%) was recorded in August. The maintenance of population species and proper management technique should be taken for save the species from extinction.

 

Contact us to read the full 'Thesis' internshipreport12@gmail.com

 

CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

Abstract

Contents

List of TablesList of Figures

List of Plate

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Body and gut length of fishes

Types and amount of feed

Seasonal Pattern of feeding outlines

CHAPTER THREE: MATERIALS AND METHODS

A. Choice of the species

B. Study site and period

C. External characteristics of the species

D. Collection of the species

E. Preservation of fish samples

F. Gut content analysis

G. MaterialsH. Dissection of fish

I. Examination of the Stomach Contents

J. Statistical analysis

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS

A. Relationship between total length (TL) and alimentary canal length (ACL)

B. Types and Amount of Food Taken by puntius sarana

C. Seasonal Pattern of Feeding

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION

CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

CHAPTER SEVEN: REFERENCES

 

LIST OF TABLES

1. Relation between total length and alimentary canal length (ACL) of Punitus sarana. The values of intercepts (a), regression co-efficient (b) and co-efficient of correlation (r) of Punitus sarana.

2. Generic status and total % total points of plankton in gut contents of Puntius sarana

3. Composition of diet of 120 fish based on percentage of occurrence and percentage of total points

4. Monthly percentage of fullness of stomach of Puntius sarana

5. Monthly percentage of total fullness and emptiness of Puntius sarana

6. Data of the stomach content of Puntius sarana analysis by occurrence methods (N = Number of fish examined, O = Number of fish with food)

7. Percentage of total points of different food categories by points method (N = Number of fish examined, O = Number of fish with food, P = Number of total points)

 

LIST OF FIGURES

1. Showing the Map of different study areas

2. Relationship between total length and alimentary canal length of fishes (Punitus sarana) observed in month of June, 2011

3. Relationship between total length and alimentary canal length of fishes (Punitus sarana) observed in month of July, 2011

4. Relationship between total length and alimentary canal length of fishes (Punitus sarana) observed in month of August, 2011

5. Relationship between total length and alimentary canal length of fishes (Punitus sarana) observed in month of September, 2011

6. Relationship between total length and alimentary canal length of fishes (Punitus sarana) observed in month of October, 2011

7. Relationship between total length and alimentary canal length of fishes (Punitus sarana) observed in month of November, 2011

8. Relationship between total length and alimentary canal length of fishes (Punitus sarana) observed in month of December, 2011

9. Relationship between total length and alimentary canal length of fishes (Puntius sarana) observed in month of January, 2012

10. Relationship between total length and alimentary canal length of 120 fishes (Puntius sarana) of 8 month observation

11. Average percentage of occurrence of different food items of Punitus sarana observed in 8 months of the study period.

12. Composition of diet of 120 fish based on average of occurrence and % of total points

13. Showing percentage of fullness of Puntius sarana

14. Showing percentage of total percentage of fullness and emptiness of stomach of  P. sarana.

15. Monthly variation in the percentage of Bacilariophyceae in the food items of Punitus sarana.

16. Monthly variation in the percentage of Chlorophyceae in the food items of Punitus sarana.

17. Monthly variation in the percentage of Cyanopyceae in the food items of Punitus sarana.

18. Monthly variation in the percentage of Euglenophyceae in the food items of Punitus sarana.

19. Monthly variation in the percentage of Crustacea in the food items of Punitus sarana

20. Monthly variation in the percentage of Rotifera in the food items of Puntius sarana.

 

LIST OF PLATES

1. Different size of Puntius sarana

2. Total length of Puntius sarana

3. Alimentary cannal length of Puntius sarana of measuring scale



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