POPULATION-STRUCTURE AND FEEDING-BEHAVIOR OF THE STOMATOPOD CRUSTACEAN KEMPINA-MIKADO (KEMP-AND-CHOPRA, 1921) IN THE EAST-CHINA-SEA

The population structure and feeding behavior of the edible stomatopod crustacean Kempina mikado do (Kemp & Chopra, 1921) was studied from s amples captured with bottom trawls in the East China Sea. The sex rati o (female:male) was 1.64:1. Four size-class groups were discriminated for each sex which may correspond to one to four year-old cohorts. Gut analysis showed that this animal is a typical carnivore and mainly at e the tentacular clubs of the squid Loligo edulis and fish, regardless of sex and body size. From the present data, the suspected heavy pred ation on commercially important penaeid prawns by K. mikado was not co nfirmed.