EFFECTS OF STARVATI ON ON BODY W EIGHT AND BODY COM POSITI ON OF SMALL2SIZED CHANNEL CATFISH ICTALURUS PUNCTATUS

A decrease in food availability duringwinter forces fish species from temperate regions to undergo a natural but prolonged starvation1To survive these regularly occurring periods of food limitation, fish must subsist bymobilizing the ma-terials present in their tissues1Fish have diverse strategies to dealwith periods of food deprivation, consisting of decreasing locomotor and metabolic activities,modifying tissue metabolic capacities and degradingmuscle protein1The findings of star-vation studies can be used to determine the nutrientsmost critical as energy reserves and accordingly permit a better under-standing of fish physiology and nutrient metabolism1Channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus, amongst other things, originally native to stateswithin theMississippiValley and those along the Gulf ofMexico,were introduced to China in 1984 and now become one of the major freshwater cultured fish species in the country1During overwintering, channel catfish is adapated to mobilize body constituents and survive extensive feed deprivation, leading to considerable fluctuations in energetic sta-tus1The effects of feed restrictions (including starvation) on growth, hepatosomatic index (HSI), visceral fat levels and processing yield of channel catfish have been reported by several authors1However, little is available on effect of long-term starvation on body composition in small-sized channel catfish, especially on both amino acid and fatty acids changes consid-ered together1Thus, the present study investigated the effects of starvation on the growth and compositional changes in small-sized channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus (initial mean weight: 4119 ?015,Mean ?S1D1) starved in indoor circular fiberglass aquarium for 1-weeks,with special emphasis on amino acid and fatty acid changes1Sampleswere collected at an interval of-weeks, and bodyweight,morphometrical parameters, body composition, amino acid and fatty acids composition both in muscle and liver were determined1Starvation significantly reduced body weight, condition factor (CF), visceroso-matic index (VSI), HSI and intraperitoneal index (IPF) (p p p p p p p p protein) as energy; EAA and highly-unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA, especially EPA and DHA) were preferentially restored1The present information provided an indication of impact of starvation on bodyweight and identified the nutrients catabolised and conserved in the face of increasing food starvation, and will assist in the development of the formulated diet for juvenile channel catfish I1punctatus