to date, a comparative analysis of larval performance and digestion abilities between wild and domesticated eurasian perch has not yet been performed. eurasian perch larvae from wild and domesticated spawners were reared in the same conditions and at different development stages, growth performance variables, the expression of genes encoding digestive enzymes and specific enzymatic activity were analysed. No significant differences in hatching rate, deformity rate or swim bladder inflation effectiveness between wild and domesticated larvae were found. Specific growth rate, final total length and wet body weight were significantly lower in wild larvae, whereas higher mortality in wild larvae was observed compared to domesticated larvae. the data obtained in this study clearly indicate that during domestication, significant modification of digestion ability occurs at the very beginning of ontogeny, where domesticated fish are characterised by lower enzymatic activity and lower expression of genes encoding digestive enzymes. this probably results from the low diversity of the food offered in culture conditions, which significantly modified digestion capability. The obtained data provide an understanding of how domestication affects fish in aquaculture and may improve the planning of selective breeding programs of eurasian perch and other freshwater teleosts.Domestication of animals involves transformation of morphological, physiological, developmental and behavioural features, during which animals adapt to the environment that humans create for them 1 . Domestication was indicated as a key element allowing sustainable expansion of aquacultural production 2 , being the priority of the sector in the view of ever-growing demand of the consumers, overexploitation of nearly 80% of global fish stocks and a constantly increasing human population 3,4 . However, despite the huge importance of domestication for the aquaculture industry, there is very little known of the processes being modified along with the adaptation of the fish to the culture conditions. This applies especially to the most intensive farming technologies, such as those involving a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), where most of the environmental factors, to which fish are exposed throughout the life cycle, are fully controlled by humans 5 .One of the most important species dedicated to RAS-based aquaculture production is the Eurasian perch Perca fluviatilis L., whose domestication began in the 1990s 6 . It is accepted that some cultured stocks of this species are at the 4 th level of domestication -the entire life cycle is closed in intensive culture conditions, without inputs of wild specimens, but there are still no selecting breeding programs successfully implemented 2,6 . The Eurasian perch is an ideal model for research on domestication processes because this is the only native European species where several generations with a clearly indicated history of origin are farmed in RAS 7,8 and, at the same time, there is still easy and wide access to ...
