Vol. 12, Issue 5 (2023)

Author(s):
Maheen Altaf, Dr. Farooz Ahmad Bhat, Dr. Tasaduq Hussain Shah, Dr. Adnan Abubakr, Dr. Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Dr. Tariq Hussain Bhat, Zaib Hafiz and Asim Iqbal Bazaz

Abstract:
Gut morphometric parameters viz. Gut length, Gut weight, Relative Gut Mass (RGM), Relative Length of Gut (RLG), Zihler’s Index (ZI), and Gut Vacuity Index (GVI) of Schizopyge niger were studied to investigate its feeding characteristics. According to the results, total length and total weight of fish ranged from 110.69 mm to 297.90 mm and 62.00 to 311.89 g, respectively and the gut length and gut mass of fish varied from 258.35 mm to 906.91 mm and 1.52g to 17.02 g, respectively. The overall RGM and RLG values ranged from 0.01 to 0.13 with a mean value of 0.04±0.02 and 1.26 to 4.59 with a mean value of 2.14±0.21, respectively thereby exhibiting that S. niger has herbivorous nature. The results revealed the ZI values to be in the range of 6.04 to 18.16 and GVI values ranged from 0 to 23.33 exhibiting the gluttonous nature of this species. This type of study is beneficial for aquaculture as well as assessing the ecological role of Schizopyge niger along with its position in the food chain of fresh waters of Kashmir valley.