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Dietary self-selection in fish: a new approach to studying fish nutrition and feeding behavior

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Abstract

The principles of modern aquaculture encourage the development of fish feeds containing low fish meal content and several types of plant ingredients plus nutrients to avoid depleting global fish stocks and to reduce costs. However, food constituents can affect animal nutrition and feeding behavior, so the effect of different diets on fish behavior and growth needs to be understood to optimize the use of nutrients and to improve fish welfare. The development of multiple-choice self-feeding systems led to a new perspective for investigating these issues in aquaculture species. Our purpose with this review is to summarize the information that has been published to date on this topic and to identify gaps in knowledge where research is needed. Key subjects are assessed under the following major headings: How do we study dietary selection in fish? What food signals do fish use to choose the right diet? and How do fish respond to food challenges? The present review will provide a picture of the main results obtained to date in these studies in aquaculture fish species, as well as perspectives for future research in the field.

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Acknowledgments

Developing the report that led to this review was primarily sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) by projects (AGL2010-22139-C03-01 and AQUAGENOMICS) to FJSV and (CNPq, Pesquisador Visitante Especial/PVE, 401416/2014-3) to R. Fortes-Silva, although the material has been updated since that report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Fish Nutrition and Feeding Behaviour (AquaUFRB), Faculty of Fishing Engineering (NEPA), Center of Agricultural Science, Environmental and Biological (CCAAB), University of Bahia (UFRB), Cruz das Almas, 44380-000, Bahia, Brazil

    Rodrigo Fortes da Silva

  2. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Unifenas University, Alfenas, 37130-000, Brazil

    Alexandre Kitagawa

  3. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Murcia, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    Francisco Javier Sánchez Vázquez

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  1. Rodrigo Fortes da Silva
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  2. Alexandre Kitagawa
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  3. Francisco Javier Sánchez Vázquez
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Correspondence to Rodrigo Fortes da Silva.

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da Silva, R.F., Kitagawa, A. & Sánchez Vázquez, F.J. Dietary self-selection in fish: a new approach to studying fish nutrition and feeding behavior. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 26, 39–51 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-015-9410-1

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