SEASONAL VARIATION IN GUT CONTENTS OF INDIAN MAJOR CARP, CIRRHINUS MRIGALA FROM MEERANPUR LAKE, INDIA

: The present study was carried out to analyze the gut contents of Indian major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala from Meeranpur Lake of district Sultanpur, India from June 2018 to May 2019. The information on the feeding habits of fish helps to understand the inter-specific relationship of aquatic fauna and the productivity of the water body. The result so obtained was used to compute the percentage volume of food items in the gut (% V ), frequency of occurrence of gut having particular i food items (% O ), index of preponderance (I) and grading of various food items in gut contents of i Mrigal, Cirrhinus mrigala . In the present study, the gut was consisted by decay matter, phytoplankton, zooplankton, plant materials and insects. The result showed that the decay matter and plankton dominated in gut contents and considered as main food components during pre-breeding, breeding and post-breeding seasons. The bottom feeder and omnivorous feeding habit of Cirrhinus mrigala was confirmed by the index of preponderance and grading of various food items. Cirrhinus mrigala, Feeding habit, Gut analysis, Meeranpur Lake, Seasonal variation.