The Yangtze Estuary is the largest estuary in the Pacific West Bank and is an important spawning ground, feeding ground, wintering ground, and migration route for fish. has potential economic value, but few studies have been performed on this species. A feeding study is important to understand the biology and ecology of a fish species, as well as the fish community and entire ecosystem structure and function. Domestic and foreign scholars have conducted some studies on feeding of , but no study has been conducted in the Yangtze Estuary. The feeding habits of were investigated in 459 individuals collected bimonthly from the Yangtze Estuary (June 2014 to May 2015) by analyzing their stomach contents. The prey items included 12 groups and 37 prey species dominated by decapods. The prey groups included Mysidacea, fish, and crabs, and the advantage prey species were sp. The prey items were similar to those reported previously from Jiaozhou Bay, Bohai Sea, Laizhou Bay, and the Huanghe Delta; however, the advantage prey species were not the same. Thus, the habitat of the prey determined the dietary composition of . The dietary composition of prey consumed varied seasonally. Decapods were the most important group throughout the year, whereas mysidacea and crabs were predominant in spring, fish were predominant in summer, and mysidacea were eaten mostly during winter. The seasonal variation in prey items was closely related to the life cycle of the fish. Dietary composition also had clear ontogenetic variations; fish < 70 mm standard length (SL) consumed juvenile fish, mysidacea, and euphausiacea, those 70-189 mm SL consumed shrimp and fish, and those > 189 mm SL mainly consumed fish. The species and size of prey items were highly significantly different among body lengths. A cluster analysis for season employing the Euclidean distance index revealed one diet group in autumn, and another for spring, summer, and winter. The cluster analysis for ontogeny revealed a diet group < 70 mm SL and another group ≥ 70 mm SL. Feeding intensity also varied seasonally and during development. The Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric rank test and a contingency table revealed that the mean stomach fullness index of < 0.01). The percentage of empty stomachs did not differ among seasons ( > 0.05), but the mean stomach fullness index and percentage of empty stomachs varied during development ( < 0.01). The feeding intensity of fish was lower during winter than that during autumn, which may be related to the reduced number of prey and temperature. Feeding intensity was higher during summer than that during spring, which may be related to larger fish size. A strong positive correlation was found between body length of prey and that of < 0.01). Predation by increased gradually as mouth parts developed with growth. Moreover, mean prey weight and mean prey number increased with increasing body length, which is consistent with optimal foraging theory.