Effects of meal and body sizes on gastric evacuation of the endangered Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) fed on either live or artificial diets: Using radiography technique

Abstract

The effects of body and meals sizes on gastric evacuation (GE) of the endangered Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) were parameterized (at temperatures ranging from 16.8 to 17.6 degrees C) using radiography technique. GE experiments were performed using different body sizes A. baerii ranged from 1.5 kg to 5 kg fed on meal sizes of 4.6 g to 47.6 g composed of either commercial pellets or live food (fish prey, whiting). the commercial pellets used in these experiments had barium sulphate at concentrations of 20%, while the same amount was injected into the body of live food for radiography technique monitoring. the course of GE in A. baerii was best described by the square root model independently of meal size. the effects of body mass and temperature on GE rates were described by power model and simple exponential model respectively. GE rates of A. baerii fed on live food could be summarized by dStdt=-0.00169W0.40e0.080TSt (g/hr), while dStdt=-0.00182W0.40e0.080TSt for commercial pellets, where S-t is the stomach contents mass (g), W is fish wet weight (cm), T is temperature (degrees C), and t is time (hr). These summarized models could estimate the time required for a meal to be evacuated from the stomach of A. baerii or determine the stomach fullness at postprandial time t. These results will assess the planning of feeding regime for A. baerii to avoid their overfeeding and underfeeding.