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First Feeding and Survival of Aspidoparia morar Larvae (Cyprinidae)
Author(s) -
Malhotra Y. R.,
Munshi Sunita
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1985)114<286:ffasoa>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - cyprinidae , biology , larva , zoology , fishery , ecology , fish <actinopterygii>
Laboratory‐reared larvae of Aspidoparia morar, a small carp of trophic importance in Indian streams and a frequent experimental subject, were tested for survival under various feeding regimes. At rearing temperatures of 13–15°C, the gut became fully developed and open at 5–7 d posthatch and the yolk sac was completely exhausted on day 9. Larvae ingested both live and artificial food on day 4, before their intestines and gill complements were fully formed, but mortality of this group was high, 18–35% through day 20 (the end of the experiment). Larvae had lowest mortality, 4–11%, if they were first fed on day 7, when their gills and intestines were developed but some yolk remained. Mortality progressively increased with further delays in first feeding, although many larvae in each group–even those that were completely starved–survived past day 20. Only 20% of larvae took food when it was first offered on day 14, 5 d after yolk absorption. Wild planktonic food supported better survival of larvae than artificial food, but the optimal time of first exogenous feeding on both food types occurred between the times of full gut development and complete yolk exhaustion. Received May 13, 1983 Accepted September 18, 1984