Growth, feed utilization and growth heterogeneity in juvenile turbot Scophthalmus maximus (Rafinesque) under different photoperiod regimes

Juvenile turbot (45 g, SE = 1.3) were reared under three photoperiods, 08L:16D, 12L:12D and 20L:04D at slightly elevated ambient temperature for Ireland. Over the 297‐day experimental period, the overall growth rate of the 12L:12D (0.82% d^?1) treatment was higher than for both 08L:16D (0.80% d^?1) and 20L:04D (0.77% d^?1). Overall relative feed intake (FI = % consumption*day^?1) was higher for the 20L:04D (FI = 0.81% d^?1, SE = 0.06) treatment than for the 08L:16D (0.63% d^?1, 0.04) and 12L:12D (0.64% d^?1 0.04) treatments, whereas feed conversion efficiency (FCE = weight gain* consumption^?1) was lower in the 20L:04D (FCE = 0.67, SE = 0.08) group when compared with the 08L:16D (0.88, 0.06) and 12L:12D (0.88, 0.06) treatments. Present results show that the long‐term extended fixed photoperiod may act as an irritant, inducing stress, suppressing growth and reducing feed utilization. It is hypothesized that the progression of size‐dependent hierarchies over time can be divided into two distinct phases herein referred to as ‘hierarchy resolution’ and ‘hierarchy stabilization’ phases (or phases 1 and 2) characterized by increasing and decreasing growth heterogeneity respectively. Growth heterogeneity is measured as coefficient of variation of weight and rank correlation of initial weight of a phase and corresponding growth rate.     

A set of highly polymorphic microsatellites useful for kinship and population analysis in turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.)

The turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) is a flatfish species of great commercial value for aquaculture. In this study we describe the isolation and characterization of 30 novel highly polymorphic microsatellite markers in this species obtained from a genomic library enriched for seven short tandem repeated motifs. Much higher polymorphism (mean number of alleles: 13.37; mean expected heterozygosity: 0.869) and potential for parentage assignment than previously reported for microsatellites in turbot were found after the analysis of 24 wild individuals. Most loci conformed to Hardy–Weinberg expectations, excluding Sma‐USC20 and Sma‐USC28, which showed a high heterozygote deficit probably due to the presence of null alleles. No significant genotypic disequilibrium was observed between any pair of loci, suggesting no close linkage between them. These loci are potentially useful for kinship and population analysis in turbot.     

Effect of dietary protein and lipid levels on growth and body composition of juvenile turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L) reared under optimum salinity and temperature conditions

Effect of dietary protein and lipid levels on growth and body composition of juvenile turbot was determined at optimum salinity and temperature conditions of 17 g L^?1 and 19.2 °C, respectively, by using 3 × 2 (protein levels: 550, 600 and 650 g kg^?1; lipid levels: 69 and 168 g kg^?1) factorial design with three replications of each. Fish were hand‐fed to satiety twice daily throughout the feeding trial. Weight gain and specific growth rate of fish were significantly (P < 0.05) increased with increased dietary lipid level, but not by dietary protein level. Daily feed intake was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by both dietary protein and lipid levels. Feed efficiency ratio and protein efficiency ratio were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by dietary lipid level, but not by dietary protein level. Moisture content of whole body was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by dietary lipid level, but not by dietary protein level. Crude lipid content of whole body was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by dietary lipid level, but not by dietary protein level. Significantly higher 20:5n?3, 22:6n?3 and n?3 highly unsaturated fatty acids were observed in turbot fed the low lipid diet than fish fed the high lipid diet in all protein levels, but significantly lower 18:2n?6 was observed in fish fed the former compared with the latter. In considering results of growth, specific growth rate and efficiency of feed, optimum dietary protein and lipid levels for juvenile turbot seemed to be 550 and 168 g kg^?1 of the diet, respectively, under optimum salinity and temperature conditions.     

Nitrogen utilisation and ureogenesis as affected by dietary nucleic acid in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and turbot (Psetta maxima)

We evaluated the influence of dietary nucleic acid (NA) supplied either as an RNA extract (RNA) or as brewer's yeast (BY) on nitrogen (N) utilisation, N excretion and ureogenesis in a freshwater teleost, the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and a marine teleost, the turbot (Psetta maxima). Five diets containing two levels of NA or BY were formulated for each species, and fed to juvenile rainbow trout (initial body weight (IBW): 21.7 g) and turbot (IBW: 11.8 g) over 8–10 weeks. Besides growth and N utilisation, we monitored total ammonia-N and urea-N excretion rates and measured the activities of selected enzymes (glutamate dehydrogenase, ornithine carbamoyltransferase, arginase and uricase). There was no clear N sparing effect of dietary NA or BY supplementations in either species. Feeding diets containing the RNA extract led to an almost two-fold increase in postprandial plasma urea-N and uric acid concentrations and in urea-N excretion rates. Glutamate dehydrogenase and arginase activities were decreased in fish fed NA supplemented diets. Uricase activities were inversely related to dietary NA levels. Data on N excretion and enzyme activities clearly suggest that ureogenesis is influenced by dietary NA in both species. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Effect of a dietary phospholipid supplementation on growth and fatty acid composition of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.) juveniles from weaning onwards

Two 40-day feeding trials using extruded diets were conducted to assess the effect of a dietary phospholipid (PL) supplementation on growth, survival and fatty acid composition of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) from weaning onwards. Two dietary treatments (FO and PL) were tested; both had an identical extruded basis (92.5% total diet weight) coated with a different lipid fraction (7.5% total diet weight). Diet PL contained 2% egg yolk PL (69% pure). In diet FO the PL was replaced by hydrogenated coconut oil. The isolipidic diets contained an equal amount of fish oil ethyl esters providing 1.6% (% diet dry weight) of n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA). A diet water stability test showed no effect of the PL supplementation on the leaching of the dietary fatty acids. In both fish species weight, but not survival, significantly increased as a result of PL supplementation. Weaning onto the experimental diets resulted in similar changes in the relative percent levels of fatty acids in both species. In general, the percentage of saturated fatty acids levelled off after a rapid increase, while monoenes increased after an initial decrease. Total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) decreased and total n-6 PUFA remained almost constant. The major effect of the dietary PL on fish fatty acid composition was a 50% increase in n-6 and n-3 HUFAs compared to the PL-free FO diet. The rise in n-6 HUFA may have reflected the higher moiety in the dietary PL. On the other hand this was not the case for the n-3 HUFA since they represented only low levels in the PL fraction (0.1%) compared to that provided by the ethyl esters (1.6%) suggesting a more efficient incorporation of the PL n-3 HUFA than of the ethyl ester n-3 HUFA. A second hypothesis is that the dietary PL may have favored the incorporation of the dietary ethyl ester n-3 HUFA.     

Comparative study of iodothyronine outer ring and inner ring deiodinase activities in five teleostean fishes

The presence of outer ring deiodinating (ORD) and inner ring deiodinating (IRD) activities was investigated in different tissues of Oreochromis niloticus (Nile tilapia), Clarias gariepinus (African catfish), Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout) and halmus maximus (turbot). High-K_m rT₃ ORD is present in the kidney of most of the fishes studied, except in catfish. In turbot, besides the kidney, rT₃ ORD is also present in liver, heart and ovary. Low-K_m T₄ ORD is found in the liver and low-K_m T₃ IR the brain of all the fishes studied. In addition, low levels of low-K_m T₃ IRD were demonstrated in gill and skin of Nile tilapia, liver of rainbow trout and gill and kidney of turbot. For the different teleosts, the biochemical properties of the different rT₃-deiodinating enzymes mentioned, T₄ ORD in liver and T₃ IRD in brain and tilapia gill were compared to those of the deiodinases formerly characterized in Oreochromis aureus (blue tilapia). In general, the different deiodinases demonstrate analogous sensitivities to iodothyronines and inhibitors, although minor differences occur. The various deiodinating enzymes all depend on addition of dithiothreitol and demonstrate maximal activity pH between 6.5 and 7. The optimal incubation temperature of rT₃ ORD and T₄ ORD in tilapia and catfish is 37 °C, in trout and turbot it varies, depending on the tissue, between 25 ° and 37 °C. For the different T₃ IRD activities the optimal temperature is 37 °C in warmwater as well as in coldwater species. The apparent Km values for rT₃ ORD lay in the M range, for T₄ ORD and T₃ IRD they lay in the nM range. V_max values are usually higher in tilapia as compared to the other teleosts studied. Based on the similarities in susceptibility to inhibition by different iodothyronines and inhibitors and the agreement of the apparent K_m values, we conclude that the deiodinating enzymes in teleosts are more similar to mammalian deiodinases than is generally accepted.     

Effects of dietary water content on meal size, daily food intake, digestion and growth in turbot, Scophthalmus maximus (L.)

When fed once daily with wet squid, turbot (30–50 g) accustomed to dry pellets require many days to increase intake to meet their feed requirement (≈ 10 mg dry matter g⁻¹ bw meal⁻¹). Adaptation takes 1–2 days if several daily feedings are given. With dried squid, they ingest about 20% of the wet squid bulk because the stomach contents expand when moisturised. In contrast, turbot eat enough wet squid to fill most of the available stomach volume (≈ 7.6 mL 100 g⁻¹ bw). When presented in gelatine capsules, food water content is masked and does not affect the volume ingested. Moistening the contents shortens the delay before gastric emptying starts to one-third (0.6 h) compared with dry food (1.9 h). Daily dry-matter intake increased when dry contents were moistened but only if two or more meals were offered per day. Turbot adapt their digestion to supply water for dry diets but this may add extra metabolic costs. When offered 20 mg dry matter g bw⁻¹ day⁻¹, divided into four equal meals, turbot grew faster and more efficiently with moist than with dry squid. Protein, energy and dry-matter digestibilities were also enhanced. The increased daily protein absorption did not increase ammonia release, indicating that the extra protein was used for somatic growth.     

Comparison of mortality of wild and released reared 0-group turbot, Scophthalmus maximus, on an exposed beach (Ría de Vigo, NW Spain) and a study of the population dynamics and ecology of the natural population

Abstract  Marked reared turbot, Scophthalmus maximus (L.) (594) were released onto an exposed beach nursery ground together with marked wild fish (438) of approximately the same size (4–6 cm TL) and were sampled at intervals for 38 days. A consistent ratio of marked wild: unmarked wild indicated that marking did not increase mortality. The wild 0-group turbot population size was estimated at 1540 at the time of release, indicating that hatchery-reared individuals could theoretically make a significant contribution to the local population size. However, the absolute and relative catches of the marked, reared fish were lower than those of the marked wild fish, and no reared fish were caught after 23 days. The higher mortality rate was attributed to both a smaller size and their hatchery-reared origin. The population dynamics of the 1994–1995 year-classes of wild turbot were also studied. Recruitment of post-larvae (3 cm) to the beach started in March and continued until October. Population size peaked over the August–October period. Juvenile turbot remained on the nursery beach until June of the following year when they presumably emigrated to deeper water. During this 15-month period their length increased from 3 to 12–15 cm.     

养殖大菱鲆烂鳍病的流行调查及人工感染试验

通过现场调查和记录备案送检大菱鲆病鱼样品的方法,对我国大菱鲆主要养殖区烂鳍病进行了21个月流行情况调查,共采集到烂鳍病发病样品20个。调查结果发现,烂鳍病是大菱鲆养殖比较常见的细菌性疾病之一,自然高发期集中于5~8月水温较高的时期,苗期的大菱鲆最易感染,发病鱼一般都是急性死亡。组织病理学的研究显示,病鱼多个组织器官均发生不同程度的病变。用该病致病菌对苗期大菱鲆进行的人工感染试验结果表明,高浓度的病原菌对大菱鲆的致病力是相当强的。根据感染试验死亡曲线推算出该致病菌对大菱鲆半致死量为5.9×103cfu/m l。