Investigating growth indices and feeding habits of Pink ear emperor Lethrinus lentjan in coastal waters of Hormozgan province

Pink ear emperor Lethrinus lentjan from family Lethrinidae, a protogynous hermaphrodite, is an important species for fisheries in the Persian Gulf, with the highest amount of catch and food acceptability in Hormozgan province. Ninety samples were collected in summer 2012 from Bandar Abbas coastal waters by gillnet and gargoor and were investigated for growth and feeding indices based on standard protocols. The results indicated that the relationship between standard length and weight can be expressed as: y= 0.044x2.874, which means that pink ear emperor, has an isometric growth in coastal waters of Hormozgan province. Moreover, condition factor was estimated 3.01 for this species. Regarding feeding indices, CV index wascalculated 66.66 which rank pink ear emperor as a relatively low eating fish. Food preference index revealed that small fishes (66.3%), crabs (34.4%), Squid (6.9%) and bivalves 3.4%) constitute the prey items of Lethrinus lentjan in coastal waters of Hormozgan province.