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The barber goby, Elacatinus figaro, is a cleaner species of ecological importance and of keen interest to the aquarium trade. Endemic to Brazil, it is a threatened species and so aquaculture is a potential solution for reducing pressure on the natural stocks. This study describes the reproductive behaviour, the embryonic and larval development and the general breeding and rearing conditions. Ten wild fish initiated the formation of breeding pairs 20 days after acclimation to captivity. Spawning started 12 days after the first pair was formed, with one female from each pair spawning from 140 to 700 eggs (n=15 spawnings). The average period of incubation of the eggs was 6.8 days at 25 °C. The best hatching rate was 99.5% (n=10 spawnings). Larval rearing used Nannochloropsis oculata with rotifers (Brachionus rotundiformis) as the first food (day 0–25); nauplii and meta‐nauplii of Artemia were fed from day 18 until larval metamorphosis with subsequent weaning using commercial marine fish diets. The transformation to juveniles started at around the 30th day post hatch. The best larval survival rate until complete metamorphosis was 30.6% (n=4 larvicultures). After this period, the mortality was insignificant. This study demonstrated that the cultivation of barber goby is feasible.

This study quantified size-dependent cannibalism in barramundi Lates calcarifer through coupling a range of prey-predator pairs in a different range of fish sizes. Predictive models were developed using morphological traits with the alterative assumption of cannibalistic polyphenism. Predictive models were validated with the data from trials where cannibals were challenged with progressing increments of prey sizes. The experimental observations showed that cannibals of 25–131 mm total length could ingest the conspecific prey of 78–72% cannibal length. In the validation test, all predictive models underestimate the maximum ingestible prey size for cannibals of a similar size range. However, the model based on the maximal mouth width at opening closely matched the empirical observations, suggesting a certain degree of phenotypic plasticity of mouth size among cannibalistic individuals. Mouth size showed allometric growth comparing with body depth, resulting in a decreasing trend on the maximum size of ingestible prey as cannibals grow larger, which in parts explains why cannibalism in barramundi is frequently observed in the early developmental stage. Any barramundi has the potential to become a cannibal when the initial prey size was <50% of the cannibal body length, but fish could never become a cannibal when prey were >58% of their size, suggesting that 50% of size difference can be the threshold to initiate intracohort cannibalism in a barramundi population. Cannibalistic polyphenism was likely to occur in barramundi that had a cannibalistic history. An experienced cannibal would have a greater ability to stretch its mouth size to capture a much larger prey than the models predict. The awareness of cannibalistic polyphenism has important application in fish farming management to reduce cannibalism.

The compensatory growth in juvenile fat snook (13.7 g) was evaluated in ¢sh subjected to four treatments: continuously fed (control); subjected to 1 (D1), 2 (D2) and 3 (D3) weeks of food deprivation, followed by a 5-week re-feeding period. At the end of food deprivation, the body weights at the di¡erent treatments were signi¢cantly di¡erent and inversely related to the length of the food deprivation period (C 516.425 g; D1 514.024 g; D2 513.542 g; D3 512.228 g). During re-feeding, no di¡erences were observed in the slopes of body weight growth curves among treatments, indicating failure in full growth compensation. In the ¢rst re-feeding week (week 4), although hyperphagia was observed for all re-fed groups, better food conversion ratios were detected only for D1 and D2, re£ected in an enhancement in the speci¢c growth rates. From week 5 onwards, no di¡erences between treatments and control were detected for any variable. The total food intake was lower for D2 and D3 compared with the control. In the present study, ¢sh showed partial compensatory growth when subjected to a maximum of 2 weeks of food deprivation. Therefore, the food deprivation can promote production losses, even considering a reduction in the total food intake. Di¡erent letters on the same row represent signi¢cant di¡erences in treatments in relation to the control (Po0.05). Ã Concentration of protein, ash, lipid and moisture, expressed in % of wet weight. wLipid/LBM, ratio of lipid to the sum of protein and ash.

Resumo -O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o desempenho zootécnico e econômico de robalo-peva (Centropomus parallelus) alimentado com seis rações práticas, contendo diferentes concentrações proteicas. As dietas foram formuladas para conter as seguintes concentrações proteicas: 375, 395, 416, 438, 473 e 490 g kg -1. Cada dieta foi fornecida até a saciedade aparente duas vezes ao dia, por 90 dias. Ao final do experimento, a composição corporal dos peixes alimentados com as diferentes dietas não diferiu significativamente. O ganho em peso variou de 2,87±0,09 a 4,74±0,02 g, da menor para a maior concentração proteica. A concentração proteica de 490 g kg -1 levou à redução de 2,86±0,13 R$ kg -1 no custo médio de alimentação, ao aumento de 97,82±4,25% no índice de eficiência econômica, e à redução de 102,91±4,58% no índice de custo. A dieta com a maior concentração proteica e a relação energia/proteína de 7,27 Mcal kg -1 promove os melhores índices zootécnicos e econômicos para juvenis de robalo-peva.Termos para indexação: Centropomus parallelus, aquicultura marinha, avaliação econômica, custo, exigência proteica. Growth and economic performance of juvenile fat snook fed diets containing different protein levelsAbstract -The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth and economic performance of fat snook (Centropomus parallelus) fed six practical diets, containing different protein levels. Diets were formulated to contain the following protein levels: 375, 395, 416, 438, 473 and 490 g kg -1. Diets were offered until apparent satiation twice a day for 90 days. At the end of the experimental period, the body composition of the fish fed different diets did not differ significantly. The weight gain varied from 2.87±0.09 to 4.74±0.02 g from the lowest to the highest protein concentration. The protein concentration of 490 g kg -1 led to a decrease of 2.86±0.13 R$ kg -1 in the average feeding cost, an increase of 97.82±4.25% in the economic efficiency index, and a reduction of 102.91±4.58% in the cost index. The diet with the highest protein concentration and the energy/protein ratio of 7.27 Mcal kg -1 promotes the best economical and growth performances for juvenile fat snook.

This study assessed the cannibalistic behaviour of juvenile barramundi Lates calcarifer and examined the relationship between prey size selection and energy gain of cannibals. Prey handling time and capture success by cannibals were used to estimate the ratio of energy gain to energy cost in prey selection. Cannibals selected smaller prey despite its capability of ingesting larger prey individuals. In behavioural analysis, prey handling time significantly increased with prey size, but it was not significantly affected by cannibal size. Conversely, capture success significantly decreased with the increase of both prey and cannibal sizes. The profitability indices showed that the smaller prey provides the most energy return for cannibals of all size classes. These results indicate that L. calcarifer cannibals select smaller prey for more profitable return. The behavioural analysis, however, indicates that L. calcarifer cannibals attack prey of all size at a similar rate but ingest smaller prey more often, suggesting that prey size selection is passively orientated rather than at the predator's choice. The increase of prey escape ability and morphological constraint contribute to the reduction of intracohort cannibalism as fish grow larger. This study contributes to the understanding of intracohort cannibalism and development of strategies to reduce fish cannibalistic mortalities.

The present study investigated the growth performance of juvenile barramundi Lates calcarifer (Bloch) fed conspecific prey (CP), formulated diet (FD) and a mix of both (MIX) using a bioenergetics approach. Fish in the MIX treatment ingested significantly more CP than FD by dry mass. However, prey mass ingestion and cannibalism rate in the MIX treatment were significantly lower than in the CP treatment. This indicates that the provision of alternative food does not complete mitigate cannibalism, but it can significantly reduce cannibalism in barramundi. Fish in the FD treatment showed a significantly higher daily food intake than fish in the CP or MIX treatments. However, fish fed conspecifics showed significantly better feed conversion efficiencies, apparent digestibility rates and growth performances. Exclusive cannibalistic barramundi assimilated significantly more energy consumed, with 1.5% of energy lost in faeces comparing with 7.3% of siblings feeding exclusively on FD. Consequently, exclusive cannibals channelized more energy consumption into growth (57.1%) than those fed solely on FD (43.9%). Therefore, high energy allocation into growth promoted better feed conversion efficiency and growth performance of cannibalistic barramundi than siblings fed solely on FDs. This study implies that fastgrowing cannibals may continuously prey on slow-growing conspecifics due to growth advantage through cannibalism. Therefore, size heterogeneity should be reduced at initial stocking and controlled as fish grow to avoid the emergence of new cannibals.

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