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Feeding, morphological changes and allometric growth during starvation in miiuy croaker larvae

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Abstract

We investigated the effects of the timing of first feeding (larvae in F0, F1, F2, F3 and S were first fed on day 3, 4, 5, 6 days after hatching (DAH) and unfed, respectively) on feeding, morphological changes, survival and growth in miiuy croaker larvae at 24°C. The fed larvae initiated feeding on 3 DAH and reached point of no return (PNR) on 6 DAH. Larvae in F0 and F1 groups survived apparently better than F2 group at the end of the experiment on 36 DAH. High larval mortality occurred from 3 to 7 DAH in all feeding groups, accounting for 40% (F0, F1 and F2 groups) to 90% (F3 and S groups) of the total mortality. Larvae in F0 and F1 groups grew better than F2 group throughout the experiment. Eye diameter, body height, head height and mouth gape of the first feeding larvae were more sensitive to starvation than other morphometrics and could be used as indicators for evaluating their nutritional status. Results indicated that delayed first feeding over 1 day after yolk exhaustion could lead to poor larval survival and growth. To avoid starvation and obtain good growth in culturing, larvae feeding should be initiated within 1 day after yolk exhaustion at 24°C.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of P. R. China under grant contracts No. 2007CB407305 and No. 2006BAD09A02. We thank DC Zhang, ZZ Xiao, MY Chen and F Gao for their advice on experimental methods. We greatly appreciate the editor and reviewers’ constructive comments on the manuscript. We are grateful to MQ Zhang for his support in the rearing of rotifers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nan-hai Lu Road, Qingdao, 266071, People’s Republic of China

    Xiu-Juan Shan, Liang Cao, Wei Huang & Shuo-Zeng Dou

  2. Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Xiu-Juan Shan, Liang Cao & Wei Huang

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  1. Xiu-Juan Shan
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Correspondence to Shuo-Zeng Dou.

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Shan, XJ., Cao, L., Huang, W. et al. Feeding, morphological changes and allometric growth during starvation in miiuy croaker larvae. Environ Biol Fish 86, 121–130 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-008-9412-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-008-9412-0

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