Seasonal analysis of Sand Smelt (Atherina Boyeri Risso, 1810) population food composition in Lake Marmara (Manisa), Turkey

In this thesis, food composition of Atherina boyeri population was identified by analysing the stomach contents of 423 big-scale sand smelt fish caught from Lake Marmara (Manisa). The fish were caught and analysed seasonally between November 2014 and July 2015. While the total length of the fish ranged between 2.5cm and 8.7cm, their weight ranged from 0.12g to 3.53g. Average length was 5.6cm and average weight was found to be 1.40g. At the end of the work, along different developmental stages and across 4 different seasons 78225 food components belonging to 5 different classes; Oligachaeta, Branchiopoda, Maxillopoda, Ostracoda, Insecta and Malacostraca were identified. The stomach contents were found in varied quantitıes at different seasons; while Cladocera were found to be more in fall and summer, Copepoda occurred more in winter and spring. Bray-Curtis cluster analysis showed that highest similarity occurs between fall and spring specimens. Keywords: Atherina boyeri, Sand smelt, Lake Marmara, Food composition