Feeding habits of chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus (Houttuyn, 1782) in the South Sea of Korea

Abstract

This study analyzed the stomach contents of Chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus, collected from purse seine and set net fisheries samples in the South Sea of Korea in March 2020 to February 2022 for juvenile, mature, and older fish, which are useful to identify ecosystem functions and study food competition, interspecific feeding relationships, and the food web. The size of S. japonicus samples ranged from 5.5 to 46.6 cm in fork length. S. japonicus were a carnivore that feed mainly on euphausiids and pisces. The estimated average trophic level of S. japonicus ranged from 3.65±0.64 to 4.00±0.78. Examination of the feeding habits according to ontogenic feeding patterns of S. japonicus revealed that the mean weight of prey (mW/ST) continuously increased. There were differences in the composition of the stomach contents of S. japonicus by the sampling period and size class, and also the interaction between them. S. japonicus were specialized feeders with pisces and euphausiids as their dominant prey.