Oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion of common wolffish Anarhichas lupus Linnaeus 1758 in an experimental-scale, seawater, land-based culture system

The oxygen consumption (0₂) and ammonia excretion (N) of juvenile and adult common wolffish was measured in culture tanks in the laboratory. The oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion were affected by temperature (C), fish size and feeding rate. For juveniles (0.5 kg; 7C) the diel oxygen consumption rate varied between 37 and 62 mg O₂ kg^-1 h^-1 and ammonia excretion between 2.3 and 5.7 mg N kg^-1 h^-1. The corresponding rates for adult fish (6.9 kg; 7C) were 29-44 mg O₂ kg^-1 h^-1 and 1.2–3.1 mg N kg^-1 h^-1. The weight-specific oxygen consumption (mg O₂ kg^-1 h^-1) was described by the following formulae: O₂ (7C) = 0.17* W^0.83 and O₂ (12C) = 0.39 * W^0.73 and the corresponding ammonia excretion (mg N kg^-1 h^-1) by: N(7C) = 0.024 W^0.75 and N(12C) = 0.073 W^0.60, where W is fish weight in g.