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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Aquatic Physiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1490406

Interspecific differences in growth, digestion and feeding metabolism among freshwater fishes with different food habits

Provisionally accepted
Xu Pang Xu Pang 1Jie Yang Jie Yang 2Shen-Ao Xiang Shen-Ao Xiang 2Hao Sun Hao Sun 2Shijian Fu Shijian Fu 3*
  • 1 College of Fisheries, Southwest University, Chongqing, Chongqing Municipality, China
  • 2 College of Fishries, Southwest University, Chongqing, Chongqing Municipality, China
  • 3 College of Life Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    To investigate the effects of food habits on growth, digestion, specific dynamic action (SDA) and the intestinal microbiota and verify their relationships in freshwater fishes, we measured the specific growth rate (SGR), meal remaining in the gastrointestinal tract, postprandial metabolic response and intestinal microbial diversity of nine freshwater fish species with different food habits (three carnivorous, four omnivorous and two herbivorous) fed at 25 °C. The SGR, energy ingested (EI), energy efficiency (EE), gastrointestinal evacuation rate (GER), peak metabolic rate (PMR), peak metabolic scope (PMS) and SDA duration values were the highest in carnivores and the lowest in herbivores. The routine metabolic rate (RMR) and SDA coefficient values of carnivores were also significantly greater than those of omnivores and herbivores. The SGR was also significantly and positively correlated with the EI, GER, PMS and SDA coefficients. These results indicated that growth performance, feeding and digestion abilities and feeding metabolic responses were the strongest in carnivores and the weakest in herbivores. There was no significant difference in the richness of the intestinal microbiota with different food habits, whereas omnivores presented the highest diversity, followed by herbivores, and carnivores presented the lowest diversity. Moreover, while the phylum composition of the intestinal microbiota in fish with different food habits was similar, significant differences were observed in the composition proportions among carnivores. This might be related to the host's ability to digest and utilize proteins, fats and carbohydrates. We suggest that the interspecific differences in growth associated with different food habits are related to their feeding and digestive abilities, metabolic response, and gut microbiota.

    Keywords: freshwater fishes, Gastric evacuation rate, intestinal microbiota, Nutritional physiology, Specific dynamic action, specific growth rate

    Received: 03 Sep 2024; Accepted: 29 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Pang, Yang, Xiang, Sun and Fu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shijian Fu, College of Life Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.