PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON FEEDING HABITS OF GARFISH BELONE BELONE (L., 1761) IN THE ADRIATIC SEA

The objective of this study was to present feeding habits of garfish population inhabiting Adriatic Sea. Gut contents of 211 Belone belone specimens caught with seine net in the Adriatic Sea (Croatian fishing ground) were analysed. Although animal and plant prey items were present in analysed guts, the preferred prey group was animal one (94%). The most frequent prey items were copepods (56.9 %) and decapods (44.4 %), while the most abundant were euphausiids (59.9 %) and copepods (20.7 %).