![Sample our Environment & Agriculture journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5934/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Environment-Agriculture.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The feeding habits of two sympatric squid species, Uroteuthis (Photololigo) chinensis and Uroteuthis (Photololigo) duvaucelii from the southwestern Gulf of Thailand were studied. They fed on low numbers of food types (AF) and had a low diet breadth; 1.18 and 0.01 for U. (P.) chinensis and 1.49 and 0.05 for U. (P.) duvaucelii, respectively. Three major prey types (fishes, crustaceans and molluscs) were always detected and cannibalism was observed. Fish was the greatest contributor to the diet of both species, contributing 89.5% for U. (P.) chinensis and 69.9% for U. (P.) duvaucelii. Fish size significantly affected fullness index (FL) and AF for U. (P.) chinensis (P < 0.001) and U. (P.) duvaucelii (P < 0.001). Depth affected the FL of U. (P.) chinensis (P < 0.001) but not of U. (P.) duvaucelii (P > 0.05). Maturity stages of both male and female U. (P.) chinensis influenced FL (male: P < 0.001; female: P < 0.05) and AF (male: P < 0.05; female: P < 0.01). The FL of squid from cast nets was higher than those from trawls. The multivariate results showed dietary grouping between size classes of both species.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the authority of Southern Marine Fisheries and Development Centre, Songkhla for access to their vessel to collect samples. The authors would like to express gratitude to Khuanchai Pankaew and Somjai Vechprasit for their assistance during collecting and transferring samples. We are grateful to the crews and captains of ‘MV Pramong 9’ for their assistance at sea during sampling. The authors also wish to thank to Dr Fazrul Hisam for his kind suggestions and instructions, and the reviewers for their comments and suggestions in making this work more meaningful.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.