6533b862fe1ef96bd12c749e

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Development and validation of a bioenergetics model for juvenile and adult burbot

subject

description

Oxygen consumption of juvenile and adult burbot Lota Iota was measured in an intermittent-flow respirometer to determine the effect of temperature and fish body mass on metabolic rate. These results were combined with data from earlier experiments and the 'Wisconsin bioenergetics' model was constructed. The model was validated under laboratory conditions by comparing observed and predicted food consumption and growth of burbot fed on dead vendace Coregonus albula. There was a good correspondence between observed and estimated growth and food consumption under experimental conditions: the mean absolute per cent errors of growth and food consumption were 4.8 and 24.0%. Estimated values with the new model were an improvement over the Atlantic cod Gadus morhua model previously used for burbot. In the field, the reliability of food consumption estimates was verified by using polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) accumulation as an indirect indicator of the food consumption rate. The total PCB concentration of nine out of 13 burbot was estimated accurately. Thus, the burbot model produced good estimates of food consumption, even under field conditions.