Abstract
The ingestion of an inert feed as a sole food source was investigated in larval silver sea bream (Sparus sarba) fed an alginate-based microparticulate diet. Using the auto-fluorescent properties of pigments associated with the alginate base, ingestion and gut content were investigated over a 6 h experimental period in fed and unfed larvae. By extracting and measuring chlorophyll a (Chl a) and phaeopigment content of feeding larval fish and relating this to standardized Chl a and phaeopigment content of the diet, relative to diet weight, it was determined that individual fed 7-day old larvae had a maximum gut content of 1.05±0.09 μg diet while 14-day old fed fish had a maximum gut content of 3.17±0.90 μg diet. On average, the gut content of 14-day old fish was 2.89 times greater than the gut content of 7-day old fish. The dry weight of larval sea bream increased from 43±4.2 μg at day 7 to 134.3±20.4 μg at day 14 indicating that growth of fish fed this inert feed was substantial. Gut pigment dynamics suggested that Chl a was degraded to phaeopigments by 7-day but not 14-day old larvae and the individual gut dietary content varied considerably in 14-day old fish. The maximum Chl a and phaeopigment content in larval sea bream was 0.4 ng ind−1 and 0.55 ng ind−1 for 7-day old fish and 1.54 ng ind−1 and 2.81 ng ind−1 for 14-day old fish respectively. The present method may potentially allow simple and direct assessment of larval fish feed ingestion in both an experimental and commercial setting.
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Kelly, S., Larsen, S., Collins, P. et al. Quantitation of inert feed ingestion in larval silver sea bream (Sparus sarba) using auto-fluorescence of alginate-based microparticulate diets. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 22, 109–117 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007895429457
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007895429457