• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.808-813
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• 2021

The diet composition of Spanish mackerel Scomberomorus niphonius, was investigated using 853 specimens collected using two-boat trawl, stow net, gill net and set net from January to December 2019 from the South Sea of Korea. The size of the specimens ranged from 25.2 to 114.8 cm in fork length. S. niphonius fed mostly on fishes. Its diets also included small quantities of shrimps, cephalopods, crabs, stomatopods, etc. Among them, Engraulis japonicus was the dominant species. The dietary composition of S. niphonius exhibited significant differences based on their size. The proportion of Trichiurus japonicus increased as body size of S. niphonius increased, whereas the proportion of E. japonicus decreased gradually. As the body size of S. niphonius increased, the mean weight of prey per the stomach (mW/ST) tended to increase significantly (one-way ANOVA, P<0.05).