Description: Effects of moderate hypoxia and oscillating oxygen conditions on growth of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) were investigated. Groups of four to six sea bass (initial weights 40–90 g) were exposed to one of three oxygen regimes (40% air saturation; oscillations between 40–86% with a period of 770 min; 86% as a control) at 22°C and a salinity of 37 for 1 month. All fish survived and gained weight, but relative to the controls, the sea bass exposed to hypoxic conditions consumed significantly less food, exhibited a reduced growth, and had a lower condition factor. Oscillating groups were intermediate, and not statistically distinguishable from either normoxic or hypoxic treatments. Feed conversion efficiency and variation in body size were not significantly affected by oxygen conditions. Growth was correlated with feed intake, suggesting that reduced growth under moderate hypoxic or oscillating oxygen conditions is primarily due to reduced appetite and not a consequence of a decrease in feed conversion efficiency.

Description: This study determined the effects of two test diets — a dry-phytoplankton and a trout-fry feed — and a control diet (Artemia nauplii) on tryptic activity, growth and survival rates during early life stages of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) larvae. In addition, during a second experimental series, the interaction between trypsin and CCK (cholecystokinin) secretion was monitored in larvae fed with a PHA (phytohemagglutinin, a protein extract from the red kidney bean) enriched commercial trout-diet and compared with the data resulting from the use of the same but non-enriched feed. Subgroups were taken from the experimental units and kept under starvation. Oreochromis niloticus was chosen as a model species, since the larvae are able to intake artificial diets by the time of first feeding, and thus featuring the experiments with a manipulated micro-diet. The results demonstrated that larval mortality and growth are affected by the diet given and this was mostly observed in the group fed on dry-phytoplankton (12.2% mortality, 1.45 mg/d; control group: 2.9% mortality, 3.19 mg/d). The same larval group showed also a higher tryptic activity compared with all the other groups, which in combination with the bad survival and poor growth performance gives evidence for inadequate nutritional quality of the dry-phytoplankton feed for larvae aged more than two weeks after hatching. Every other feeding group showed good growth rates (trout-fry feed: 3.04–3.19 mg/d, with PHA enriched trout-fry feed: 2.85 mg/d), similar to the larvae fed with live prey (3.19–3.35 mg/d). A reduction of tryptic activity characterised the starvation process. These results confirm the usefulness of monitoring the individual tryptic activity as an indicator for evaluating the quality of a diet and the nutritional condition of fish larvae, but also the necessity of combining data of tryptic activity with growth and survival data for a correct interpretation. An interaction between trypsin and CCK secretion was also confirmed with this experimental approach, since induction and reduction of tryptic activity followed a reverse pattern compared with the concentration of CCK.