FEEDING HABITS OF MAYUPA (Sternopygus macrurus Bloch & Schneider, 1801) IN THE SINU RIVER, COLOMBIA

Objective. To study the feeding habits of Mayupa (Sternopygus macrurus Bloch & Schneider, 1801) in the Sinu river, Colombia. Materials and methods. The stomach contents were analyzed using the proportion of empty stomachs, grade of digestion, frequency of occurrence, numerical frequency, gravimetry, relative importance index (RII) and the gut length (GL)- total length (TL) relationship. Results. Only few stomachs were empty (VC =6.9%) and the 60.0% of preys were fresh. Four food items were identified: fishes, crustaceans, vegetable raw and others. Fishes was the group most frequent (46.5%), abundant (44.7%), with the greatest composition in weight (81.9%) and with greatest relative importance (63.2%). Conclusions. The results indicates that Mayupa is a carnivorous feeding habits fish, with preference by fishes.