| Abstract: | White sturgeon juveniles were raised for 10 months posthatch under various regimens of feeding, water temperature, and stocking density. Transition to external feeding in larvae occurred 9 to 11 days posthatch and was accompanied by major changes in allometric growth and larval behavior. Condition factor, hepatosomatic index, and survival rate varied significantly throughout the rearing period in the 4 progenies investigated. Growth in body weight for all progenies was largely dependent on water temperature and feeding. On the average, fingerlings raised on natural diets (brine shrimp and tubifex, followed by ground fish) grew 6% of their body weight per day, whereas fingerlings fed artificial pelleted diets (Oregon Moist Pellets) or a mixture of pelleted and natural feeds grew 1–4% per day. Certain individuals (20% of population investigated), however, established a strong feeding performance on artificial diets and exhibited twice the growth rate of fish raised on natural diets; these fish reached a mean body weight of 282 g at 10 months post-hatch. Assuming more efficient procedures are developed for weaning this fish onto artificial diets, the white sturgeon has demonstrated a potential for use in intensive grow-out systems. |
