Control of light condition affects the feeding regime and enables successful eye migration in Atlantic halibut juveniles

Incomplete eye migration is one of the major problems in intensive production of juvenile Atlantic halibut. More than 60% of an average juvenile population reared according to best practice suffers from this abnormality. In commercial production, these fish are discharged and represent a substantial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Aquaculture 2009-05, Vol.290 (3), p.250-255
Main Authors: Harboe, Torstein, Mangor-Jensen, Anders, Moren, Mari, Hamre, Kristin, Rønnestad, Ivar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
abnormal development
Animal and plant ecology
Animal aquaculture
animal development
animal growth
Animal populations
Animal productions
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Aquaculture
arachidonic acid
Artemia
Atlantic halibut
Biological and medical sciences
deiodinase
Diet
docosahexaenoic acid
eicosapentaenoic acid
Eye migration
fatty acid composition
feed deprivation
Feeding regimes
fish culture
fish feeding
fish larvae
Fish migration
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
halibut
Hippoglossus hippoglossus
Larvae culture
Light and darkness
mariculture
Marine
marine fish
mortality
photoperiod
Sea water ecosystems
Shellfish
Survival analysis
Synecology
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Summary:Incomplete eye migration is one of the major problems in intensive production of juvenile Atlantic halibut. More than 60% of an average juvenile population reared according to best practice suffers from this abnormality. In commercial production, these fish are discharged and represent a substantial economic loss and a large welfare problem. In the present investigation it is demonstrated that by controlling diurnal light and darkness periods together with a meal based feeding regime, incomplete eye migration can be dramatically reduced in production systems for Atlantic halibut. Control groups were reared under continuous light conditions, whereas the experimental groups were given 7 h of darkness and 17 h of light during a 24 hour cycle, in a period lasting from 12 to 35 days post first-feeding. Otherwise both groups were reared under continuous light conditions. All larvae were fed short time enriched Artemia supplied two times daily. The experimental conditions did not affect the overall growth or survival up to day 85 after first feeding. However, 27 ± 3% of the fry reared under continuous light conditions had complete eye migration, whereas in juveniles reared under shifting light and darkness conditions, complete eye migration was 85 ± 7%. These results represent a major improvement in production systems for Atlantic halibut juveniles.
ISSN:0044-8486
1873-5622
DOI:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2009.02.032