Physiological and reproductive response to varying quantitative lipid inclusion in diets for Gulf killifishFundulus grandisBaird and Girard

Abstract

Successful culture of Gulf killifish Fundulus grandis as a live marine baitfish in the south-eastern United States has experienced low fecundity as a primary restriction. Hence, the ability to optimize reproduction in captive populations may increase the potential for viable large-scale production. Broodfish nutrition is an expanding field of aquaculture, and improved nutritional status has been shown to increase reproductive output in some cultured fish. This study examined changes in quantitative inclusion of lipid as fish oil in complete diets fed to actively spawning Gulf killifish and its effects on physiological and reproductive parameters and subsequent larval morphometrics. An increase in dietary lipid levels across a gradient from 4.0 to 13.8% did not affect periodic fecundity, egg size, embryo viability rate, sperm motility, hepatosomatic index or liver total lipid content. Intraperitoneal fat increased significantly in fish fed higher lipid levels, while gonadosomatic index was significantly higher in the lowest lipid content group. Larvae produced by fish fed higher lipid levels had significantly increased endogenous nutritional resources at hatch while standard length was unaffected. No strong reproductive benefits of increased lipid inclusion were found in Gulf killifish.

Fecundity of Migrating European eel (Anguilla Anguilla) from Polish Waters

“…But such relationship are not present in all culture fish species. For example in Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis) such relationship was not found (Patterson and Green, 2014). Some initial studies about the quality of eel eggs show some relationship between DHA content and egg quality.…”

Physiological management of dietary deficiency in n-3 fatty acids by spawning Gulf killifish (Fundulus grandis)

“…Stored body lipids could serve not only as an energy reserve but also as a source of specific FAs when dietary availability decreases. Gulf killifish preferentially store excess energy as IPF rather than in the liver (Patterson and Green 2014b). In the present study, a low n for baseline values may have resulted in a lack of statistical significance for HSI and IPF %.…”