Abstract
Effects of prey color, wall color and water color on the food ingestion of orange-spotted grouper Epinephelus coioides larvae were studied under a laboratory condition. The food ingestion of fish larvae was significantly affected by wall color. The highest food ingestion was observed when fish were stocked in white containers, while the lowest food ingestion occurred in black containers. Fish larvae ingested significantly more green-stained rotifers than red- and purple-stained rotifers. Furthermore, the number of rotifers ingested by fish in Nannochloropsis-colored rotifers was significantly higher than fish ingesting artificially stained green rotifers. This study indicates that orange-spotted grouper larvae prefer green food particle and ingest more food in white containers. Nanochloropsis is a suitable additive in the tank to produce green rotifers that are preferred by fish larvae.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander G, Sweeting R, McKeown B (1994) The shift in visual pigment dominance in the retinae of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch): an indicator of smolt status. J Exp Biol 195:185–197
Blaxter JHS (1968) Rearing herring larvae to metamorphosis and beyond. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 48:17–28
Blaxter JHS (1986) Development of sense organs and behaviour of teleost larvae with special reference to feeding and predator avoidance. Trans Am Fish Soc 115:98–114
Bransden MP, Butterfield GM, Walden J, McEvoy LA, Bell JG (2005) Tank colour and dietary arachidonic acid affects pigmentation, eicosanoid production and tissue fatty acid profile of larval Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Aquaculture 250:328–340
Cheng CL, Flamarique IN (2004) New mechanisms for modulating colour vision. Nature 428:279
Chesney EJ (2005) Copepods as live prey: a review of factors that influence the feeding success of marine fish larvae. In: Lee CS, O’Bryen PJ, Marcus NH (eds) Copepods in aquaculture. Wiley, Iowa, pp 133–150
Cushing DH, Horwood JW (1994) The growth and death of fish larvae. J Plankton Res 16:291–300
Denson MR, Smith TIJ (1996) Larval rearing and weaning techniques for white bass, Morone chrysops. J World Aquac Soc 27:194–201
Douglas RH (1989) The spectral transmission of the lens and cornea of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and goldfish (Carassius auratus)—effect of age and implications for ultraviolet vision. Vis Res 29:861–869
Downing G, Litvak MK (2000) The effect of photoperiod, tank color and light intensity on growth of larval haddock. Aquac Int 7:369–382
Duray MN (1995) The effect of tank color and rotifer density on rotifer ingestion, growth and survival of milkfish (Chanos chanos) larvae. Philipp Sci 32:18–26
Duray MN, Estudillo CB, Alpasan LG (1996) The effect of background color and rotifer density on rotifer intake, growth and survival of the grouper (Epinephalus suillus) larvae. Aquaculture 146:217–224
Gisbert E, Williot P (1997) Larval behaviour and effect of the timing of initial feeding on growth and survival of Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baeri) larvae under small scale hatchery production. Aquaculture 156:63–76
Howell BR (1979) Experiments on the rearing of larval turbot, Scophthalmus maximus L. Aquaculture 18:215–225
Hunt von Herbing I, Gallager SM (2000) Foraging behavior in early Atlantic code larvae (Gadus morhua) feeding on a protozoan (Balanion sp.) and a copepod nauplius (Pseudodiaptomus sp.). Mar Biol 136:591–602
Kohno H, Ordonio-Aguilar RS, Ohno A, Taki Y (1997) Why is grouper rearing difficult?: An approach from the development of the feeding apparatus in early stage larvae of the grouper, Epinephelus coioides. Ichthyol Res 44:267–274
Lazo JP, Dinis MT, Holt GJ, Faulk C, Arnold CR (2000) Co-feeding microparticulate diets with algae: toward eliminating the need of zooplankton at first feeding in larval red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Aquaculture 188:339–351
Levine JS (1980) Vision underwater. Oceanus 23:19–26
Ma Z (2014) Food ingestion, prey selectivity, feeding incidence, and performance of yellowtail kingfish Seriola lalandi larvae under constant and varying temperatures. Aquac Int 22:1317–1330
Ma Z, Qin JG (2014) Replacement of fresh algae with commercial formulas to enrich rotifers in larval rearing of yellowtail kingfish Seriola lalandi (Valenciennes, 1833). Aquac Res 45:949–960
Ma Z, Qin JG, Nie Z (2012) Morphological changes of marine fish larvae and their nutrition need. In: Pourali K, Raad VN (eds) Larvae: morphology, biology and life cycle. Nova Science Publishers Inc., New York, pp 1–20
Ma Z, Guo H, Zhang N, Bai Z (2013) State of art for larval rearing of grouper. Int J Aquac 3:63–72
Ma Z, Guo H, Zhang D, Hu CQ, Jiang S (2014) Food ingestion, consumption, and selectivity of pompano, Trachinotus ovatus (Linnaeus 1758) under different rotifer densities. Aquac Res. doi:10.1111/are.12413
Martin-Tichaud DJ, Peterson RH (1997) Factors affecting swim bladder inflation success in larval striped bass (Morone saxatilis). Bull Aquac Assoc Canada, Special Publication 2:111
McFarland WN, Munz FW (1975) Part III: the evolution of photopic vision pigments in fishes. Vis Res 15:1071–1080
Monk J, Puvanendran V, Brown JA (2008) Does different tank bottom color affect the growth, survival and foraging behaviour of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) larvae. Aquaculture 277:197–202
Palmer PJ, Burke MJ, Palmer CJ, Burke JB (2007) Developments in controlled green-water larval culture technologies for estuarine fishes in Queensland, Australia and elsewhere. Aquaculture 272:1–21
Reitan KI, Rainuzzo JR, Øie G, Olsen Y (1993) Nutritional effects of algal addition in first-feeding of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.) larvae. Aquaculture 118:257–275
Reitan KI, Rainuzzo JR, Oeie G, Olsen Y (1997) A review of the nutritional effects of algae in marine fish larvae. Aquaculture 155:211–225
Stottrup JG, Gravningen K, Norsker NH (1995) The role of different algae in the growth and survival of turbot larvae (Scophthalmus maximus L.) in intensive rearing system. ICES Mar Sci Symp 201:173–186
Turingan RG, Beck JL, Krebs JM, Licamele JD (2005) Development of feeding mechanics in marine fish larvae and the swimming behaviour of zooplankton prey: implications for rearing marine fishes. In: Lee CS, O’Bryen PJ, Marcus NH (eds) Copepods in aquaculture. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 119–132
Wellington CG, Mayer CM, Bossenbroek JM, Stroh NA (2010) Effects of turbidity and prey density on the foraging success of age 0 year yellow perch Perca flavescens. J Fish Biol 76:1729–1741
Wheeler TG (1982) Color vision and retinal chromatic information processing in teleost: a review. Brain Res 4:177–235
White EM, Goncalves DM, Partridge JC, Oliveira RF (2004) Vision and visual variation in the peacock blenny. J Fish Biol 65:227–250
Yufera M, Fernandez-Diaz C, Pascual E, Sarasquete M, Moyano F, Diaz M, Alarcon F, Garcia-Gallego M, Parra G (2000) Towards an inert diet for first-feeding gilthead seabream Sparus aurata L. larvae. Aquac Nutr 6:143–152
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by Sanya City Bureau of Industry and Information Technology (2014NK19). Mr. Yayi Zhang provided technical support to this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Jiasong Zhang and Huayang Guo have contributed equally to this work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, J., Guo, H., Ma, Z. et al. Effects of prey color, wall color and water color on food ingestion of larval orange-spotted grouper Epinephelus coioides (Hamilton, 1822). Aquacult Int 23, 1377–1386 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-015-9890-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-015-9890-y