Study on the food and feeding habits of the chocolate mahseer (Neolissochilus hexagonolepis) from Meghalaya, India

Chocolate Mahseer (Neolissochilus hexagonolepis) is a game fish and a commercially important species. Feeding intensity with respect to season, maturity stages and food items of this fish were investigated. The vegetable matter, algae and insects, form the basic food of the fish. There is a rise and fall in the feeding intensity of the fish during breeding season and the feeding intensity increased after the spawning season. The fish was found to be a voracious feeder as indicated by the high values of its gastro-somatic indices(G.S.I.). Morphology of the gut suggests that the gutis in a transitional stage between herbivorous and omnivorous condition.