The Open Fish Science Journal

2009, 2 : 42-49
Published online 2009 April 10. DOI: 10.2174/1874401X00902010042
Publisher ID: TOFISHSJ-2-42

Predicting Weight Composition of Fish Diet s: Converting Frequency of Occurrence of Prey to Relative Weight Composition

K. A. Stobberup , T. Morato , P. Amorim and K. Erzini
Fragata Azul Lda., Lisbon, Portugal.

ABSTRACT

Diet compositions expressed in weight are essential to determine the trophic relationships in energetic terms between the compartments within a system. Data from stomachs were compiled from a number of sources (62102 stomachs), covering four broad areas such as the Northwest Atlantic, South Africa, Senegal and the Azores Islands in order to explore the empirical relationships between the frequency of occurrence, which is of limited use in a modelling context, and the preferred index, relative weight composition. These empirical relationships were found to be highly significant.

Keywords:

Fish diets, relative weight composition, frequency of occurrence.