Physiological and social constraints on growth of fish with special reference to Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus L.

Physiological studies of growth in animals predict that growth rates should decrease with increasing size, but when Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, were reared together in large groups there was often a positive correlation between initial body size and the growth rate of an individual fish. This suggested that social interactions were important determinants of growth rates and, in the absence of the establishment of direct linear hierarchies, it is suggested that growth suppression is the result of short-term bouts of aggression associated with feeding periods leading to reduced food intake by certain fish. Evidence is presented to show that growth suppression can be reduced by increasing the frequency of feeding.