Food and feeding habits of channa punctatus (bloch) and channa striatus (bloch) in Ukkadam Lake, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India

C. punctatus and C. striatus are found to bo carnivores feeding mainly on fish, crustacean adults, crustacean larvae, insect adults, insect nymphs, insect larvae in Coimbatore water. Zooplankton, tadpoles, annelid worms and molluscs formed the supplementary food. The percentage frequency of occurrence of fish in the gut contents of both the species are more than the other food items. The occurrence of empty stomach was found to be more during the peak breeding season, in both the species, which is in coincidence of the high values of gonado-somatic index and low relative condition ('Kn') values. Well developed gill-rakers and alimentary canal indicate that these two species are adapted to feed on animal food organisms.