Recruitment and food composition of juvenile thin-lipped grey mullet, Liza ramada (Risso, 1826), in the Neretva River estuary (Eastern Adriatic, Croatia)

The present paper describes the recruitment and food composition of thin-lipped grey mullet, Liza ramada (Risso, 1826) juveniles in the estuary of the Neretva River in the southeastern Adriatic. Thin-lipped mullet appeared in the Port of Plo e in February. The relationships between total length, standard length, and weight showed a remarkably good fit to the expected allometric model, with b=3 for total length. Twelve different animal food categories were identified. The greatest diversity was recorded in April at the Port of Plo e when 10 categories were present. In addition, six diatom taxa were noted. Harpacticoid copepods were the most common prey (39%) in these samples, followed by insects (32%) and cladocerans (12%). All other prey accounted for less than 4%. Insects represented 99% of prey in the stomachs of specimens sampled from the freshwater Crna Rijeka River. Thin-lipped mullet juveniles were not found on sandy beaches or natural bays around the port. It thus appears that juveniles find the port area to be a habitat with the favorable characteristics of a brackish water nursery: of predators, lower salinity, and high food availability. These all promote better survival and recruitment in this area of the Croatian Adriatic.