Swimming exercise to control precocious maturation in male seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Male European seabass, already predominant (~ 70%) in cultured stocks, show a high incidence (20-30%) of precocious sexual maturation under current aquaculture practices, leading to important economic losses for the industry. In view of the known modulation of reproductive development by swimming exercise in other teleost species, we aimed at investigating the effects of sustained swimming on reproductive development in seabass males during the first year of life in order to determine if swimming could potentially reduce precocious sexual maturation.

Methods

Pre-pubertal seabass (3.91 ± 0.22 g of body weight (BW)) were subjected to a 10 week swimming regime at their optimal swimming speed (U_opt) in an oval-shaped Brett-type flume or kept at rest during

SUBMITTER: Graziano M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5897932 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature