Groups Of Sea Bream Research Articles

Feeding time synchronises daily rhythms of behaviour and digestive physiology in gilthead seabream ( Sparus aurata)

Feeding cycles entrain biological rhythms, which enables animals to anticipate feeding times and so maximizes food utilization. In this article the effect of mealtime on locomotor activity, blood glucose, gastric pH and digestive enzymes was studied in two groups of seabream ( Sparus aurata): one group received a single daily meal at random times either during the light or the dark (random feeding, RF), whereas the other group received the meal during the light period every day at the same time (periodic feeding, PF). PF fish showed strong synchronisation of locomotor activity to the light phase (97.9 ± 0.2% of their total daily activity during daytime). In addition, the locomotor activity rhythm of PF fish showed a statistically significant daily rhythm (p < 0.05) for a period of 24 h, whereas RF fish did not display a statistically significant rhythm. Blood glucose levels were higher in RF fish during the 8 h following feeding. Gastric pH showed a postprandial decrease in both groups, but RF fish showed a lower daily average value (4.31 ± 0.21 compared with 5.52 ± 0.20). Amylase and alkaline protease activity increased some hours before mealtime in PF fish, whereas amylase activity increased 1 h after feeding and alkaline protease showed no statistically significant differences in RF fish. Acid protease activity showed no statistically significant differences in any group. Taken together, these results demonstrate that altering the feeding time affects the physiology and behaviour of seabream, which have the capacity to prepare themselves for a forthcoming meal.

Effects of feeding schedule on locomotor activity rhythms and stress response in sea bream

Feeding cycles entrain biological rhythms, which enable animals to anticipate feeding times and so maximize food utilization and welfare. In this article, the effect of mealtime was investigated in two groups of sea bream ( Sparus aurata): one group received a single daily meal at random times during the light period (random daytime feeding, RDF), whereas the other group received the meal during the light period but at the same time (scheduled daytime feeding, SDF). All the fish showed diurnal behavior, although the SDF group showed a lower percentage of diurnalism (84.4% vs. 79.5% in RDF and SDF respectively) and developed food anticipatory activity some hours before the mealtime. In addition, the mean daily locomotor activity of the RDF group was significantly higher than that of the SDF group (3132 vs. 2654 counts/day, respectively). Although the mean weight differed between both groups on day 30 (115.7 g and 125.6 g in RDF and SDF respectively), these differences had disappeared by day 60. Plasma cortisol and glucose significantly differed in both groups (cortisol: 71.8 vs. 8.7 ng/ml, glucose: 53.7 vs. 43.8 mg/dl in RDF and SDF, respectively), whereas lactate did not differ significantly. The results obtained suggest that altering the feeding time (scheduled vs. random) affects the behavior and physiology of sea bream, indicating that a single daily feeding cycle (compared to random) is beneficial for fish welfare because they can prepare themselves for the forthcoming feed.

Changes in some innate defence parameters of seabream (Sparus aurata L.) induced by retinol acetate

The effects of high doses of dietary or intraperitoneally (i.p.) injected retinol acetate on the gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) innate immune system were studied. Gilthead seabream specimens were fed a commercial non-supplemented diet containing 1·75mg of vitamin A kg−1 (as control) or the same diet supplemented with 50, 150 or 300mg of retinol acetate kg−1 (as vitamin A source). After 1, 2, 4 or 6 weeks, serum samples and head-kidney leucocytes were obtained from each fish. Serum lysozyme activity and myeloperoxidase (MPO) content were unaffected by the vitamin A diet content. The phagocytic and respiratory burst activities of head-kidney leucocytes were established, as well as their myeloperoxidase content. While phagocytosis was not enhanced by dietary vitamin A intake and was even slightly decreased after 2 weeks, respiratory burst activity was enhanced in specimens fed supplements of 150 and 300mg retinol acetate kg−1 diet for 1 or 2 weeks. Leucocyte MPO content was also enhanced when seabream were fed the highest vitamin A dose for 2 or 4 weeks and after being fed the 150 or 50mg supplemented diets for 4 or 6 weeks, respectively. Three different groups of seabream were i.p. injected with 1ml of phosphate buffer containing an amount of retinol acetate equivalent to the daily dietary supplements from the first experiment (0-control-, 0·05 or 0·30mg 100g−1 biomass). Both injection doses of retinol acetate were toxic for the gilthead seabream which showed hypervitaminic effects.These data show that retinol acetate plays an important role in the gilthead seabream nonspecific cellular immune system due to its antioxidant properties. They also point to the importance of the way in which it is administered, by dietary uptake or intraperitoneal injection.