Methods of stomach content analysis of fishes- Winter School on Towards Ecosystem Based Management of Marine Fisheries – Building Mass Balance Trophic and Simulation Models

The study of the feeding habits of fish and other animals based upon analysis of stomach content has become a standard practice (Hyslop 1980). Stomach content analysis provides important insight into fish feeding patterns and quantitative assessment of food habits is an important aspect of fisheries management. Lagler (1949) pointed out that the gut contents only indicate what the fish would feed on. Accurate description of fish diets and feeding habits also provides the basis for understanding trophic interactions in aquatic food webs. Diets of fishes represent an integration of many important ecological components that included behavior, condition, habitat use, energy intake and inter/intra specific interactions. A food habit study might be conducted to determine the most frequently consumed prey or to determine the relative importance of different food types to fish nutrition and to quantify the consumption rate of individual prey types. Each of these questions requires information on fish diets and necessitates different approaches in how one collects and analyzes data. Here, we outline qualitative and quantitative techniques used to describe food habits and feeding patterns of fishes