Hematological Responses, Survival, and Respiratory Exchange in the Olive Flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus, during Starvation

Abstract

A 12-wk experiment was conducted to examine the hematological changes, survival, and respiratory exchange in the olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus, during starvation. The growth, survival and respiratory exchange rates of the starved group were lower than those of the fed group during the experiment. Blood analysis, including hematocrit, hemoglobin, red blood cells, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, and mean corpuscular volume, did not differ significantly (p>0.05) between the fed and starved groups at the end of the experiment. There were no significant differences in plasma cortisol, glucose, Na + , Cl -, K + , or aspartate aminotransferase between the fed and starved groups (p>0.05). Alanine aminotransferase levels were higher in the starved group than in the fed group, whereas plasma osmolality was lower in the starved group than in the fed group. It was shown that starved fish had various problems after four weeks, which did not occur in the fed group. Long-term starvation is infrequent in aquaculture farms. However, starvation studies of this kind are very useful for a basic understanding of how physiological changes affect fish health, life expectancy, and growth.

Effect of starvation on growth, biochemical, hematological and non-specific immune parameters in two different size groups of grey mullet, Mugil cephalus (Linnaeus, 1758)

“…In contrast, European eel 47 and 96 days after fasting [15] and olive flounder [29], 4 weeks after starvation showed significant increase in serum glucose levels compared to fed group. Whereas red porgy [13] and Senegalese sole [7] after 14 and 21 days feed deprivation did not differ in serum glucose levels respectively.…”

“…There are several literatures that acknowledge effects of starvation as stressors in fish on growth, carcass chemical composition, biochemical hematological and immunological parameters [32,37]. To induce growth compensation in aquaculture fasting or feed deprivation is perceived as an important alternative [19] although the metabolic responses to starvation vary upon sex, fish species, size, feed deprivation period and environmental conditions [7,29]. As for growth and metabolic responses of fish upon feed deprivation and re-feeding there have been enormous studies in literature [20,23,27,38].…”

“…Various species of fish can be tolerant during feed deprivation or fasting using distinct tactics of activating adaptive biochemical and physiological mechanisms that enable them to cope with the adverse condition [7,29]. These strategies include the activation of the neuroendocrine system through the release of stress-related hormones (cathecolamines and cortisol) in the blood, while secondary responses include hematological and biochemical changes [9].…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, recently, many researchers have dealt with hematological [7,29], biochemical [11,29,37] and immunological [7,9,22] responses of fish to starvation. The present study is the first report on grey mullet focused on the starvation impacts on metabolic and physiological responses in two different sized fish.…”

Haemato-biochemical disorders associated with nodavirus like-agent in adult leaping mullet Liza saliens (Risso, 1810) in the Caspian Sea

“…These are the aminotransferases that were distributed in liver and plasma whose levels are low when the animal is healthy but high in case of hepatopathy [30,31]. To our knowledge, the liver might not be a target organ for nodavirus and it could not cause hepatic failure [19,26], therefore, it seems that the rise of ALT and AST in infected group could be attributed to the participation of reactive oxygen species generated by long time starvation in liver which caused liver damage [47].…”