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Feeding, conversion efficiencies, and growth of larval mummichogs, Fundulus heteroclitus

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Abstract

Feeding rates, conversion efficiencies and growth of larvae of the mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus, an extremely abundant estuarine fish, were measured at temperatures ranging from 18° to 30°C. The food used was Artemia salina nauplii. At the time of total yolk sac absorption (5 to 7 days after hatching), the feeding rate decreased for a short time, an indication of a shift in metabolism. Higher feeding rates and growth occurred at higher rearing temperatures. The highest conversion efficiency (gross growth efficiency) was 1.1%, at 22°C. Mummichog larvae may be energetically inefficient compared with other fish species, but efficiency might not be critical for this fish, which is an opportunistic omnivore in an energy-rich environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research, University of South Carolina, 29208, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

    R. L. Radtke & J. M. Dean

  2. the Department of Biology, University of South Carolina, 29208, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

    R. L. Radtke & J. M. Dean

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  1. R. L. Radtke
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  2. J. M. Dean
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Additional information

Communicated by M.R. Tripp, Newark

Contribution No. 291 of the Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research, supported by DOE contract No. EY-76-5-09-0869.

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Radtke, R.L., Dean, J.M. Feeding, conversion efficiencies, and growth of larval mummichogs, Fundulus heteroclitus . Mar. Biol. 55, 231–237 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00396823

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