Spawning and some of the feeding traits of brushtooth lizardfish (Saurida undosquamis (Richardson,1848)) Iskenderun Gulf (North-Eastern Mediterranean)

During a 12-month study period between January 2012 and December 2012, a total of 1058 Saurida undosquamis individuals were examined in the Gulf of Iskenderun. It was determined that the stomachs of 673 out of 1058 fish were full whereas those of the remaining 385 were empty. In the stomachs of S. undosquamis 35 different species belonging to 18 family were detected. According to Index of Relative Importance (IRI) at the species level the first five important ones were Engraulis encrasicolus, Sardinella aurita, Equulites klunzingeri, Trachurus trachurus and Aphia minuta. However, of these five species, IRIs of Engraulis encrasicolus and Sardinella aurita were extremely high compared to others. The Linear Logit Model results revealed that while impacts of the months on the stomach fullness levels were significant, those of gender and size were not (P>0.01). The LSD test showed that the stomach fullness at 4th and 12th months were significantly different from other months. Only the month effects were found significant in terms of the preference of pelagic or demersal species as prey (P<0.01). The results demonstrated that demersal species were more preferred as prey at only 10th and 11th months. A similar result was also observed in the choice of local or indo-pacific species as a nutrient. The Linear Logit Model showed that once again only the months effect was significant in the choice of local or indo-pacific species as a nutrient, but gender and size effects were not significant (P<0.01). The results demonstrated that a higher preference of indo-pacific species as a nutrient was the case at 10th and 11th months. Considering the changes of GSI values, it can be concluded that breeding season of the S. undosquamis continues from May to November.