Abstract
The reproduction and feeding in the Indian mackerel Rastrelliger kanagurta (Cuvier 1817) were studied from the coast of Sohar, Sultanate of Oman from October 2007 to September 2009. The occurrence of spent gonads from April to October shows that the population of fish might spawn for about 7 months. However, the monthly gonadosomatic indices (GSI) and relative condition factor (Kn) fluctuated even during spawning season. Males and females matured (50%) at an average length of 227 and 232 mm respectively. The male to female ratio showed homogeneous distribution of sexes during 2007–2008 and 2008–2009. The fecundity in females ranged from 55,614 eggs to 133,728 eggs and the average fecundity was 93,205 eggs. The fish is a plankton feeder preferring mainly copepods followed by diatoms, crustacean remains, dinoflagellates, fish eggs and molluscan larvae.
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Acknowledgements
We are very much thankful to H. E. Dr. Hamed Al-Oufi, the Undersecretary of Fisheries Wealth, and Dr. Saoud Al-Habsi, the Director General of Fisheries Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth, Government of Sultanate of Oman, for their keen interest in the study and encouragement. Our sincere thanks are due to Agriculture and Fisheries Development Fund (AFDF), Government of Sultanate of Oman, for funding support. We also thank the project colleagues for their technical help.
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Jayabalan, N., Zaki, S., Al-Marzouqi, A., Al-Kharusi, L. (2021). Maturation, Spawning, and Feeding Habits of the Indian Mackerel Rastrelliger kanagurta (Cuvier, 1817) from the Sea of Oman off the Sohar Coast, Sultanate of Oman. In: Jawad, L.A. (eds) The Arabian Seas: Biodiversity, Environmental Challenges and Conservation Measures. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51506-5_19
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