Abstract
Young Ambassis vachelli (Richardson) 40 to 50 d old, were used in a laboratory experiment to test the effects of starvation and subsequent re-feeding on body constituents and growth. Fish in three laboratory treatments (fed continuously; fed for 9 d and then starved for 15 d; starved for 9 d and fed for 15 d), were compared to fish from a local field population. Different body stores were mobilised at different times and rates during starvation. Carbohydrates were mobilised from the onset of starvation and were depleted after 3 d. Lipid and protein were mobilised at an increasing rate from the onset of starvation. The mortality in starved fish was relatively high (up to 70%) until re-feeding. Upon feeding, all body stores were restored rapidly in fish that were starved, with carbohydrate levels displaying an “overshoot” (carbohydrate level exceeding normal levels) in comparison to the levels in continuously fed fish. After 15 d of feeding, the starved fish had levels of constituents similar to those in continuously fed fish. Fish that were fed and subsequently starved were able to maintain themselves for at least 15 d prior to death, indicating a better degree of starvation resistance than fish without a history of feeding. This implies that feeding history in the early life of a fish is important in growth and survival but that young fish may have growth regimes flexible enough to survive relatively long periods of starvation.
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Communicated by G. F. Humphrey, Sydney
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Molony, B.W. Effects of feeding history on mobilisation and deposition of body constituents and on growth in juvenile Ambassis vachelli (Pisces: Chandidae). Marine Biology 116, 389–397 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00350055
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00350055