The present study was carried out in the fishing grounds off Mangalore coast. The observations made on a total of 2748 Rastrelliger kanagurta individuals ranging in size from 9 to 29 cm total length (TL) comprising 1442 male and 1306 female. Fortnightly samples were collected from Mangalore fish landing centre during the period from September 2014 to March 2016. Qualitative and quantitative analysis were carried out to study the food and feeding habits of R. kanagurta. In the gut content of R. kanagurta approximately 19.59% phytoplankton, 55.82% zooplankton, 6.02% algae, 6.41% semi-digested and 12.17% miscellaneous items were recorded. Zooplankton was the most dominant in all the size groups ranging from 56.94% (9-11cm) to 66.98% (27-29cm). The feeding intensity was higher during November to March but poor feeding was recorded during September to October. From the results it was clear that the poor feeding was noticed during spawning season i.e. monsoon period. Feeding intensity was found to be good in immature fishes, while in maturing intensive was observed and when matures, feeding was poor and feeding may be restricted during spawning season.