Effect of sampling interval and temperature on the accuracy of food consumption estimates from stomach contents

The effect of temperature and sampling interval on the accuracy of food consumption estimates based on stomach contents was studied using simulation. Three temporal patterns of feeding were considered (scattered throughout the day, one 5 h period or two 5 h periods) and gastric evacuation was modelled according to published values. Sampling intervals of 3 h gave reasonable food consumption estimates (2 to 19% error) at all temperatures. Comparably, sampling intervals as large as 12 h gave reasonable estimates of food consumption (1 to 20% error) when temperature was set to ≤10° C. At temperatures <5° C, even 24 h intervals (equivalent to one daily sampling) provided reasonable estimates of daily food consumption (2 to 19% error) for all but the highest gastric evacuation rate combined with one daily feeding period (47% error). The temperature effect on estimation error resulted from diminishing temporal fluctuations in stomach contents with slower gastric evacuation rates. It follows that sampling effort may be considerably minimized when estimating food consumption from stomach contents during periods with low temperatures such as the winter time experienced by temperate fishes.     

Temperature and state‐dependence of feeding and gastric evacuation in juvenile Pacific halibut

Relationships between nutritional state, behavioural response to prey and gastric evacuation rates were examined in juvenile Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis feeding on squid. Pacific halibut reared at 2, 6 and 10° C were fasted for 1 or 7 days to generate variation in energetic state. The 7 day fast resulted in measurable declines in condition indices at 10 and 6° C but not at 2° C. At 10° C, all Pacific halibut consumed the first meal offered, but fish previously fasted for 7 days took significantly longer to locate and consume the meal than fish fasted for only 1 day. At 2° C, Pacific halibut fasted for 7 days did not generally consume the first meal offered, but resumed feeding 2·1 days sooner, on average, than fish fasted for only 1 day. The gastric evacuation rate of the squid meal was best described by a power model with near‐exponential curvature ( a  = 1·011). The evacuation rate was strongly temperature‐dependent ( Q ₁₀ = 3·65) but displayed the same degree of variability at each temperature. The evacuation rate in Pacific halibut was not affected by feeding history, body size or energetic state. Furthermore, individual variation in gastric evacuation rate was not correlated with feeding responsiveness at any temperature. These results indicate a general plasticity in the behavioural but not physiological aspects of energy acquisition.     

Feeding ecology and daily food consumption of common sole, Solea vulgaris Quensel, juveniles on the French Atlantic coast

This study describes feeding rhythms in juvenile sole (0- and I-groups) and differences in choice of prey according to age and feeding time. In the same biotype, 0-group fish select amphipods or young opisthobranchs, whereas I-group fish eat chiefly polychaetes such as Pectinaria koreni . The daily food consumption for juvenile soles in the field (T = 19.8°C) is estimated at 7% body dry weight in 0-group and probably less in I-group. When compared with estimates from previous methods or models, these rations are intermediate between estimates from Kuipers' method, with a gastric evacuation rate ( R ) per hour representing three times the amount of food in the stomach, and those from Elliott & Persson's model with R value around 1.46.     

Consumption and gut evacuation rate of laboratory‐reared spotted seatrout (Sciaenidae) larvae and juveniles

The temperature and mass dependence of maximum consumption rate was measured for larval and early juvenile spotted seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus . Maximum consumption ( C _MAX) estimates were obtained from feeding and gut evacuation experiments on larvae (3·8–19 mm standard length, L _S) at three temperatures (24, 28 and 32° C), and maximum consumption experiments on juveniles at three temperatures (20, 26 and 32° C). Feeding levels were determined for larvae fed live prey ( Brachionus plicatilis and Artemia salina ) ad libitum . The midgut and total evacuation times were estimated for fish feeding continuously and discontinuously using alternate meals of tagged and untagged live prey. Temperature and fish size had significant effects on gut evacuation and consumption. The gut evacuation time increased with increasing fish size, and decreased with increasing temperatures. Mass‐specific midgut contents increased for small larvae <0·156 mg dry mass ( M _D)( c . 4 mm L _S), and decreased for larger larvae and juveniles. Maximum consumption was modelled by fitting a polynomial function to a reduced dataset of individuals feeding at high levels. The C _MAX model predicted an initial increase in specific feeding rate from 70 to 155% M _D day⁻¹ for small larvae, before declining for larger larvae and juveniles.     

军曹鱼(Rachycentron canadum)早期发育阶段的摄食及其影响因子*

研究了军曹鱼(Rachycentron canadum)仔、稚鱼的日摄食节律和摄食强度,以及饵料密度、温度、盐度对其摄食的影响。结果表明,发育8d仔鱼(摄食轮虫)、23d稚鱼(摄食卤虫无节幼体)和38d稚鱼(摄食鳗鱼粉状饵料)均表现为明显的昼夜摄食节律,摄食主要在白天进行,白天摄食强度占日摄食强度的68%以上;在白天的摄食中,又以早晨6:00-8:00和傍晚16:00-18:00摄食强度最大:夜间摄食较少或基本不摄食,所以军曹鱼早期幼体的摄食习性属白天摄食且偏于晨昏性类型。在不同饵料密度梯度的试验中,发育8d-11d仔鱼和23d-26d稚鱼摄食的适宜饵料密度范围分别为15ind·mL^-1-20ind·mL^-1和7ind·mL^-1-2ind·mL^-1。温度和盐度对发育21d-24d稚鱼日摄食强度的影响均表现为抛物线型的变化曲线,摄食的适宜水温范围为27-31℃,适宜盐度范围为28‰-32‰。结果还表明,幼休摄食强度与饵料密度、水温、盐度的关系均适合于用二次多项式来定量描述。     

有氧运动训练对中华倒刺鲃幼鱼肠道排空及其数学模型选择的影响

为了考察有氧运动训练对中华倒刺鲃幼鱼肠道排空及其数学模型选择产生的影响, 在(250.5)℃条件下, 将108 尾大小相当的实验鱼(24.470.03) g, (10.900.02) cm随机分为对照组(CG), 1 BL/s 训练组(1TG)和2 BL/s 训练组(2TG), 在相应流速下运动训练8w 后, 轻度麻醉灌喂体重1.45%的饵料, 随后在不同时间点分别测定肠道内容物重量及其百分比, 用3 个常见数学模型对实验数据进行拟合并比较。结果发现, 1TG 和2TG 训练组的体重特定生长率(WSGR)显著高于CG 对照组 (P0.05);各实验组肠道内容物干重及其百分比随着摄食后时间的延长而显著降低;所有实验组肠道排空的最优数学模型均为平方根模型;训练组(1TG 和2TG)的肠道排空率(皆为0.49%/h)明显大于CG 对照组(0.41%/h)(P0.05), 1TG 和2TG 训练组的肠道排空时间(分别为 20.39h 和 20.33h)短于 CG 对照组(24.51h)。研究表明, 有氧运动训练没有对中华倒刺鲃幼鱼的肠道排空特征及其最优数学模型选择产生显著影响, 但明显提高了该种鱼的肠道排空率并缩短其肠道排空时间。       

Effect of hunger on the daily pattern of feeding rates in juvenile pink salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha Walbaum

Juvenile pink salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha , in two test groups of differing hunger level fed continuously on live copepods, maintained at high densities, throughout 12 h feeding periods in the laboratory. Analysis of video films showed that mean feeding rates were initially (first 10 min) between 51.5 and 63.8 prey-capture attempts (snaps) fish^-1 10 min^-1, but declined abruptly with increasing satiation to relatively constant levels of about 5.0 and 8.0 snaps fish^-1 10 min^-1, which were maintained during the subsequent 11 h of feeding. The data suggests that after the initial filling of their stomachs with food, juvenile pink salmon keep their stomachs full by feeding at a rate that balances the gastric evacuation rate of 18.6 mg prey h^-1 at 11° C. Less than 15% of the fish's stomach contents need be evacuated apparently for spontaneous feeding to resume or occur. Increased hunger level (by increasing a pre-test food deprivation period from 24 to 72 h) resulted in fish increasing their average feeding rate and thus their ration consumed from 23.6 to 39.8% dry body weight per 12 h.     

A radiographic estimation of the effect of temperature on gastric emptying time in Sarotherodon niloticus (L) × S. aureus (Steindachner) hybrids

A radiographic technique was used to determine temperature effects on gastric emptying time in S. niloticus/aureus hybrids. Stomach evacuation times for 30 g fish fed 3% of their body weight were 8.5 h at 30° C, 10.8 h at 25° C and 16.4 h at 20° C. Hence, there was a negative correlation between stomach evacuation time and temperature. The Q ₁₀ between 20 and 30° C was calculated to be 1.92. Similar relationships were found for intestinal evacuation and total evacuation.
The data were used to estimate maximum daily feed intake levels of fish within the size range studied. Levels for 30 g fish were 8.5% body weight at 30° C, 6.6% at 25° C and 4.4% at 20° C. However, the optimum feeding regime should take account of the feeding behaviour of the animals.     

Stomach pH,feeding rhythm and ingestion rate in Oreochromis niloticus L. (Pisces: Cichlidae) in Lake Awasa,Ethiopia

Fish were caught in February and October, 1985 with gill and trawl nets at different time intervals. The length and weight of the fish, the stomach pH and the weight of the stomach contents were determined. The feeding pattern of O. niloticus was observed to have a diel rhythm. The stomach became more acidic towards the afternoon and most of the evening. The pH of the stomach had a significant regression on stomach fullness. The feeding rate of O. niloticus in Lake Awasa was estimated from daily feeding periodicity and rate of gastric evacuation. The fish ingests 11.5% of their wet body weight daily at an average water temperature of 21.5 °C. It is believed that the fish ingests and assimilates adequate supply of energy (9.1 KJ/day) for growth, maintenance and other energy requiring activities of the fish.     

Diel feeding chronology, gastric evacuation and estimated daily ration of juvenile coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum), in the coastal marine environment

The feeding periodicity of juvenile coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch , was examined from stomach collections taken during five sampling periods in coastal waters off Oregon. Significant differences in stomach content weight were found between several consecutive 3-hour periods, with peak fullness occurring in early morning and around dusk. The rates of gastric evacuation of euphausiid meals were measured in the laboratory at two temperatures. The decline in stomach contents was best described by an exponential model: 90% evacuation of the wet weight contents required an estimated 28.4 and 18.1 h at 11.4 and 13.7° C, respectively. The method of Elliott & Persson was used to estimate a daily ration of 2.4 and 3.7% of the wet body weight at the two temperatures.     

Effect of experimental conditions on the stomach evacuation of Coregonus lavaretus L.

The gastric evacuation of juveniles of Coregonus lavaretus L. fed on living Daphnia pulicaria was investigated. Three successive stages of stomach evacuation were observed when one meal per day was given: (i) a lag phase between the end of food intake and the beginning of stomach evacuation, (ii) a linear reduction of stomach content, (iii) a long residence time for food relics in the stomach. The initial stomach content and the stomach evacuation time are correlated positively. The stomach content increased during feeding when three meals day ⁻¹ were provided and it decreased when no food was available. During the course of an experiment the highest stomach content found increased with increasing daly ration. Excess feeding resulted in a low stomach content similar to that found with rations about 30–50% of the maximum daily food intake. Therefore the daily food intake cannot be determined by the single parameter of stomach content alone. Identical initial stomach contents showed significantly higher stomach evacuation rates under three meals day⁻¹ conditions than under one meal day⁻¹ conditions.     

Gastric evacuation in the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus

Sandbar sharks maintained in an enclosure in the natural environment were fed meals of soft blue crab, Callinectes sapidus , or menhaden, Brevoortia lyrannus , and were sacrificed at intervals after feeding to measure rates of gastric emptying. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the adequacy of various models in describing the decrease in stomach contents with time after feeding. A Gompertz growth curve provided the best fit to the data for both food types. This model suggests that gastric emptying is characterized by an initial lag phase during which evacuation rate increases, a period of maximal evacuation, and a decreasing evacuation rate during the later stages of digestion. Passage of food from the stomach was slow relative to other species of fish studied. The time required to evacuate 98% of a meal was 92–3 and 70–7 h for sharks fed menhaden and blue crab respectively. Evacuation rates did not differ between day and night periods.     

Impact of temperature on food intake and growth in juvenile burbot

The effect of temperature on food consumption, food conversion and somatic growth was investigated with juvenile burbot Lota lota (age 0 years). Juvenile burbot showed a significant dome shaped relationship between relative daily food consumption ( C _R) and temperature ( T ) with C _R = − 0·00044 T ² + 0·01583 T  − 0·06010; ( n  = 90, r ² = 0·61). Maximum C _R was at 17·9° C (95% CL 17·2–18·6° C). The temperature related instantaneous growth rate ( G ) also followed a dome shaped function with G  = − 0·000063 T ² + 0·002010 T  − 0·007462; ( n  = 95, r ² = 0·57), with maximum growth rate at 16·0° C (95% CL 15·3–16·6° C). A significant linear relationship was found between the water temperature and the conversion coefficient ( C _C) with C _C = − 1·63 T  + 59·04; ( n  = 80, r ² = 0·74). The results indicate that juvenile burbot in large lakes benefit from higher water temperatures in the littoral zone, by increased food uptake and growth, especially during the warm summer months. Because profundal water temperatures do not reflect the optimal temperature for food consumption in large burbot, temperature is unlikely to be the main proximate factor for the obligate littoral‐profundal migration of juvenile burbot observed in many lake populations.     

Gastric digestion and evacuation in whiting, Merlangius merlangus (L.)

Three meal sizes of sandeels were fed to whiting in order to monitor the evacuation of food out of the stomach. The stomach contents were sampled at intervals after feeding, using a stomach pump. In such experiments, the proportion of fish with empty stomachs tends to increase with time and, since stomach contents are limited to zero or positive values, the variance of the stomach contents becomes censored at zero. This tends to produce a curved relationship between mean stomach content and time, which gives the impression that evacuation rate slows down at low levels of stomach fullness. By taking account of censoring, it was shown that the evacuation curve generated for whiting was consistent with and could be generated from a linear model in which the rate of gastric evacuation exhibited by the fish was constant and independent of meal size, level of stomach fullness and time after feeding. The parameters of the linear model were estimated by maximum likelihood and then applied in a second model to predict the observed mean stomach content. The average gastric evacuation rate of whiting of mean weight 268 g at 10°C was 0.31 g h⁻¹.     

Effect of feeding frequency on the daily rhythms of acidic digestion in a teleost fish (gilthead seabream)

Gilthead seabream is a fish species of great importance in Mediterranean aquaculture, attracting many studies on nutrition and chronobiology, although nothing is known about the effect of feeding frequency on the daily rhythms of the gastric digestion process. In this article, we investigated daily rhythms in stomach fullness, gastric and intestine pH, as well as pepsin activity and expression of pepsinogen and proton pump in juvenile fish under three different feeding protocols: (A) one daily meal at 9:00, (B) two daily meals at 9:00 and 17:00 and (C) continuous feeding during the daytime. The results revealed that feeding protocol affected significantly the rhythm of gastric pH and the pepsin activity pattern. The gastric pH exhibited significant daily rhythms in the three cases with the acrophase located at night in the regimes A and B and during daytime, in the regime C. In the regimes A and B, the pepsin activity peaked few hours after the meals, although the afternoon meal in B produced a higher peak. In the regime C, the peak occurred in the middle of the feeding period. Lowest total pepsin activity was observed in regime A, and the highest activity with the regime C. In contrast, the pepsinogen gene expression remained low along the daily cycle, with an expression peak just before or after the morning meal in regimes A and C, respectively. The proton pump gene expression was also practically constant with a peak right after the morning meal in the regime C. On the other hand, intestinal pH showed a postprandial increase after the first morning meal in all the three treatments, recovering the resting values in the dark period. Two meals and continuous feeding allowed a better and prolonged gastric digestion and consequently the juveniles exhibited better growth with the same daily ration of food. In short, while the gastric digestion pattern is mainly driven by pH changes induced by the time of food ingestion, the regulation of the intestinal digestion seems to be more independent of the feeding protocol.     

黑鲷的胃排空率

在实验室内,18℃条件下测量了体重在 2 0～40g的黑鲷的胃排空率,并用 3种数学模型拟合了黑鲷的排空率.结果表明,3种模型都能很好地拟合实验数据,但通过统计学分析发现不论是用湿重还是用干重表示胃含物,线性模型都拟合得最好.用湿重表示时模型为Y=1.14-0.06t(r²=0 82,p<0.001);而用干重表示时模型为Y=1.36-0.07t(r²=0.62,p<0.001).实验还得出体重20～40g的黑鲷在 18℃的胃排空率为每小时排出摄入食物量的 6%～7%.     

Growth, daily ration, and gastric evacuation rates of milkfish (Chanos chanos) fed supplemental diet and natural food

Growth, daily ration, and gastric evacuation rates of milkfish ( Chanos chanos ) that fed on natural food and supplement diet were evaluated. Milkfish fingerlings (5.5g) were stocked at 1.5 fish/m² in ten 12 m² concrete tanks layered with 15-cm thick earthen bottoms. All tanks were regularly fertilized (16–20–0 and chicken manure) to maintain natural food production; 4 of the tanks additionally received a supplemental diet containing 34.3% protein and 4290 kcal/kg gross energy. Estimates or daily ration (based on dry weight of stomach contents) were calculated using the E lliot and P erson (1978) and E ggers 1977) models. Gastric evacuation rate was lower in fish that fed on natural food (1.57) compared to fish fed a supplemental diet (1.79). Consequently, the lower rate resulted in lower food intake and slower fish growth. When fish were provided a high quality supplemental diet, daily rations for fingerlings (35 g) to marketable size (116 g) ranged approximately from 0.60 to 19.68 kcal/fish/day. The deviation in daily ration (kcal/fish/day) from the above estimates may indicate the insufficient quantity of dietary energy taken by fish from natural food alone, which could be provided by supplemental diet.     

Gastric evacuation rates and daily ration of piscivorous coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch Walbaum

Effects of temperature and meal size on gastric evacuation rates of juvenile coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch , consuming sockeye salmon, O. nerka , fry were examined and used in the estimation of daily meal, daily ration and number of fry consumed by coho in Chignik Lake, Alaska. Evacuation of fry by coho was best described by a negative exponential model (average R² = 0.93). A square root model also provided a good fit (average R² = 0·93), but the y-intercepts deviated more from the expected value than did the y-intercepts of the exponential model. The effect of temperature ( T , 5–13° C) and meal size (MS, 0·166–0·367 g) on the exponential evacuation rate (r_e, h^-1) could be described as
In the lake, coho fed continuously during the 24-h period in early June 1986 and 1987. Estimates of daily meal and ration of coho calculated by the Eggers method and the geometric mean of prey weight ranged from 0·224 to 0·435 g (2.1–4.4% body wt) depending on location and year. The Elliott & Persson method provided similar estimates of food consumption, whereas estimates based on the Pennington method and square root evacuation of prey differed from the exponential models. Sockeye fry represented 93% of the total prey weight. The average number of sockeye fry consumed per coho per 24 h, based on the arithmetic mean of prey weight, was 3·0–3·9 fry.     

The effects of temperature and meal size on the rate of gastric evacuation in perch (Perca fluviatilis) fed on fish larvae

SUMMARY. The rate of gastric evacuation in perch (Perca fluviatilis) (89–170 mm length) fed on fish larvae was studied at temperatures between 12.0 and 21.7°C. Gastric evacuation rates were usually described by an exponential function. The instantaneous rate of gastric evacuation ( R ) was constant for a large number of different meal sizes. At higher food rations, a lag phase in digestion was found during the first part of digestion, and this ration size was smaller for smaller perch (89–110 mm) than for bigger perch (120–170 mm). Below these larger meal sizes, gastric evacuation was similar for the different size classes studied. The relation between R and temperature was described by an exponential function. The effects of meal size, number of food items, fish size and temperature on the rate of gastric evacuation are discussed.     

Diel diet shift of roach and its implications for the estimation of daily rations

In a small, 12 ha, mesotropic lake, roach Rutilus rutilus performed diel habitat shifts that clearly influenced the composition of their diet. During daytime, roach stayed in the littoral zone and concentrated on littoral prey. At night they were found in the pelagic zone, and pelagic prey items such as Daphnia spp. or Chaoborus flaricans dominated their food. On a seasonal scale, there were shifts in the importance of different food items and in the diel pattern of feeding intensity. Bioenergetics modelling in combination with an evacuation rate method for estimating daily rations allowed for changes in feeding modes to be taken into account, and so food item specific daily rations over the season could be determined. With the evacuation rate method applied on selected days, diel changes in diet compositions and feeding intensities could be quantitatively accounted for. When the 24 h integrated diet proportions were then used as an input parameter for bioenergetics modelling, food item specific consumption could be determined over the entire sampling season. The consideration of the diel diet shifts proved to be essential for the model output. If only the daytime or the night-time diet composition (derived from one single daily sampling) was taken into account for bioenergetics modelling, severe under- or overestimations of daily rations for specific food items resulted.