Trophic Interrelationships of the Demersal Fish Assemblage in the Northwest Arabian Gulf, Iraq

Abstract

The food composition of 12 fish species collected from the northwest Arabian Gulf in January-August 1990 was examined. Crabs, fish, shrimp and molluscs were the most extensively utilized. Food partitioning among the predators showed three categories: pelagophagous, mesophagous and benthophagous. According to the diet breadth of each species, three degrees of feeding specialization were not.ed: specialized (Trachionotus blochi, Chirocentrus dorab, Arius thalassinus, Otolithes ruber, Triacanthus biaculeatus and rays), less specialized (Upeneus sulphureus, Scolopsis phaeops and Johnius sina) and generalized feeders (sharks, Atropus atropus and Therapon theraps). The fish assemblage divided significantly into seven groups depending on the diet overlap between each pair of species. The overlap among the investigated species was 12.4%.