A closed water recirculation system for ecological studies in marine fish larvae: growth and survival of sea bass larvae fed with live prey

Phenotypic effects of antibiotic-induced axenity and egg disinfection in early larval European seabass (Dicentrarchus labraxL.)

“…Such a pattern was observed by Pilar Olivar et al. (): after DAH 13, there was a sudden increase in the growth rate following a growth plateau (as described by the Gompertz model) of fed seabass larvae versus starved, with the fed having the energy reserves to support it.…”

“…The witnessed increased yolk sac consumption rate of the xenic larvae might have left the axenic free to invest the saved energy into rapid growth, and consequently into the manifestation of such a slightly advanced ontogenetic stage. Such a pattern was observed by Pilar Olivar et al (2000): after DAH 13, there was a sudden increase in the growth rate following a growth plateau (as described by the Gompertz model) of fed seabass larvae versus starved, with the fed having the energy reserves to support it.…”

“…Larvae from all treatments were fed equally, but in no case did the specimens consume all the provided Artemia . These were provided to cover any needs of external feeding, but until DAH 14 European seabass larvae are thought to rely mostly on their internal energy reserves, partly due to the prey capture inefficiency on the first days of feeding, with no significant difference on the Gompertz total length models observed between starved and fed treatments until DAH 14 (Pilar Olivar et al., ). The experiment of that study was conducted at temperatures similar to 16 ± 0.5°C of the present experiment (16°C from incubation until DAH 3, slowly raising it up to 17.5 ± 0.6°C between DAH 3–10, and 20.5 ± 0.3°C from DAH 11 onwards).…”

“…This only provided information on the differences on individual age classes, but not on the total length growth throughout the whole experiment. Therefore, to obtain a more representative description of the development of the total lengths in relation to time, the relationship between total length and time in DAH was fitted with a Gompertz model, with the following equation: TL = a e − b e− c t. The parameters are defined as follows: TL is the total body length in mm; a is the asymptote in mm (not a predetermined constant, but a parameter calculated for a specific treatment), which is the maximum length that the growth is still being described by the model before changing to another allometry equation such as a new Gompertz curve; c the instantaneous maximum growth rate in mm/day at the inflexion point of the curve; t the age in days and b a dimensionless parameter, with b × c being the instantaneous growth rate when t = 0 (Bartsch, ; Pilar Olivar, Ambrosio, & Catalán, ; Polo, Yúfera, & Pascual, ; Ricker, ). This model was chosen due to the fact it has been shown in literature to describe very well the early total length development of fish larvae in relation to time, with a specific application on newly hatched larval European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax (Pilar Olivar et al., and references therein).…”

“…Therefore, to obtain a more representative description of the development of the total lengths in relation to time, the relationship between total length and time in DAH was fitted with a Gompertz model, with the following equation: TL = a e ÀbeÀct. The parameters are defined as follows: TL is the total body length in mm; a is the asymptote in mm (not a predetermined constant, but a parameter calculated for a specific treatment), which is the maximum length that the growth is still being described by the model before changing to another allometry equation such as a new Gompertz curve; c the instantaneous maximum growth rate in mm/ day at the inflexion point of the curve; t the age in days and b a dimensionless parameter, with b 9 c being the instantaneous growth rate when t = 0 (Bartsch, 2002;Pilar Olivar, Ambrosio, & Catal an, 2000;Polo, Y ufera, & Pascual, 1991;Ricker, 1979). This model was chosen due to the fact it has been shown in literature to describe In order to determine whether there were any statistically significant differences between the treatment models and also between their parameters of a, b and c, they were compared with nonlinear regression in GraphPad Prism 7.01 (www.graphpad.com), using the Gompertz curve fit and based on the AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) model comparison method, as suggested by the software's manual.…”