Daily dynamic of digestive processes in Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) larvae and post-larvae

Feeding is a complex process including food uptake, digestion and processing of the absorbed nutrients, therefore it is required to cover the postprandial period to obtain a global and integrated view of the digestive function. As in the case of fish larvae where the animals may eat ad libitum, it is more adequate to study the feeding and digestion patterns on a daily basis. The aim of the present work was to present an overview on the digestive process throughout the daily cycle in Senegalese sole larvae and post-larvae. The work has included the assessment of feeding and digestion patterns, as well as the regulation of the digestive processes, with the global objective to improve the knowledge of the physiological basis underlying the digestive function and, as consequence, to improve feeding efficiency.

This work received national funds through the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Competitiveness (MINECO) by projects RIDIGEST (AGL2011-23722) and EFISHDIGEST (AGL2014-52888-R) with FEDER/ERDF contribution granted to M. Yúfera (Spain), and also through FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology through project CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013 (Portugal) and project SOLEAWIN (310305/FEP/71) partially supported by PROMAR Program (Portugal) with FEDER funds. Sofia Engrola acknowledges a FCT investigator grant IF/00482/2014/CP1217/CT0005 funded by the European Social Fund, the Operational Programme Human Potential and the Foundation for Science and Technology of Portugal (FCT – Portugal). C. Navarro-Guillén was supported by a doctoral fellowship (BES-2012-051956) from MINECO (Spain).

Peer reviewed