Affiliation:
1. Institute of Oceanology "Fridtjof Nansen", Bulgarian Academy of Science
Abstract
The food spectrum of three fish species from the Mugilidae family in different age groups was studied. The samples were collected in 2019 - 2021 from the river estuaries and the coastal brackish lakes at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The research aims to establish the food spectrum of mullets and thus make a connection between food components. The results show that the predominant groups in the stomachs of the three mullet species are detritus, zoobenthos (Rissoa sp. And Trochammina inflate - 64.28%) and macrophytes (Cladophoraceae family - 53.14%). Several potential toxic species were also found: Amphora coffeaeformis, Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima, Pseudonitzschia seriata, Prorocentrum cordatum, E. pyriformis, P. minimum, Protoperidinium crassipes. For the first time along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, in the stomachs of mullet fish, the presence of particles (less than 2.5 cm) from the category "Artificial polymers" was observed. The most common in the stomachs of mullet are macrophytes of the family Ulvaceae - 45.5%; family Cladophoraceae - 35.5%; from phytoplankton - Navicula spp (97.09%); of zoobenthos: Nematoda g.sp. - 49.3% and Trochammina inflate - 32.3%.
Reference14 articles.
1. [1] Aleksandrova K. Distribution and migrations on the mullets fish (Mugilidae) along the Bulgarian coast. TsNIIRR - Varna, vol. I; 1961
2. [2] Schelske C. L., and Odum E.P. Mechanisms maintaining high productivity in Georgia estuaries. Proc. Gulf Caribb. Fish. Inst., 14: pp75�80, 1961.
3. [3] Williams R, M. Murdoch and L. Thomas, 1968. Standing crop and importance of zooplankton in a system of shallow estuaries. Chesapeake Center for Science, 9 (1), pp 42-51, 1968.
4. [4] Jorgensen C. Biology of suspension feeding. Oxford, Pergamon Press, 357 pp., 1966.
5. [5] Hiatt R. Food chains and the food cycle in Hawalian fish ponds. Part I. the food and feeding habits of mullet (Mugil cephalus), milk fish (Chanos chanos) and the tenpounder (Elops machnata). Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 74 (2), pp 61-250, 1944.