FEEDING HABITS OF TWO ESTUARINE FISHES FROM MANGROVE FORESTS AROUND AZAGNY NATIONAL PARK (COTE DIVOIRE)

Mangroves wetlands provide many ecosystem services and are considered to be highly productive tropical ecosystems. This work aims to describe dietary composition of two estuarine fish inhabiting in mangrove forests of Azagny National Park. A total of 80 and 117 specimens of Chrysichthysnigrodigitatus and Coptodonzilii were respectively collected between March 2019 and February 2020 using gillnets and traps. The Relative Importance index (RI) was used to analyze the importance of prey items in stomach contents. The results indicated 10 prey categories such as insects, fish, molluscs, macrophytes, detritus, annelids, crustaceans, phytoplankton, zooplankton and eggs. Seven and eight prey items dominated by macrophytes were observed in C. nigrodigitatus and C. zillii, respectively, which gives them an omnivorous diet with preferences of macrophytes. Fish diets of both species overlapped moderately and showed significant differences (Chi-square, p<0.05). The large number of preys obtained tends to indicate a high availability of food resources in mangroves forests and the opportunistic diet of both species. Spatial variations in diet in three stations were not significant (Anova, p>0.05). This study provides further support on practices of aquatic management, especially agriculture, aquaculture and conservation.