Daily ration and feeding periodicity of some fishes off the coast of Namibia

Abstract

ABSTRACT: We studied feeding habits of Coelorhynchus fasciatus (Giinther, 1877), Helicolenus dactylopterus dactylopterus (Delaroche 1809), and Lophius upsicephaIusSmith, 1841. The exponential model of Elliott & Persson (1978) was used to estimate the daily ration of C. fasciatus, with estimates ranging from 0.55 to 2.15 % wet body weight. The method of Diana was applied to calculate the daily ration and feeding intensity of H d dactylopterus(0.16 to 0.68 % wet body weight) and L. upsicephalus (0.55 to 1.60 % wet body we~ght) C fasciatus feeds all day long; the other 2 species are basically daytime feeders.