ASPECTS OF HORIZONTAL DISTRIBUTION AND DIET OF MYCTOPHID FISH IN THE ARABIAN SEA WITH REFERENCE TO THE DEEP-WATER OXYGEN DEFICIENCY

Horizontal distribution of myctophid fishes were studied from two transects in the Arabian Sea in 1987. Species numbers exhibited a south-north decline in diversity, with only half of the fish taxa occupying the northeastern region. Diaphus arabicus was the dominant species both in the south and north. All recorded myctophid fish species migrate in a diel pattern, residing during daytime at depths of extremely low oxygen levels (<0.1 ml O2 l-1) and foraging in the oxygen-rich surface layer at night. Feeding patterns were determined for the six most abundant myctophid species. All species appeared to be opportunistic predators that prey on a comparatively narrow food spectrum consisting principally of small to medium sized copepods. Numerically, noncalanoid copepods (with Oncaea conifera and 0. venusta dominating) made up to 70% of the diet of D. arabicus and Bolinichthys longipes. Of the 26 calanoid copepod species identified from the six myctophid taxa, the genera Euchaeta, Pleuromamma and Candacia generally dominated in the stomachs, with P. indica constituting between 21 and 95% (by numbers) of the calanoid copepod prey.