Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 22: 281--296, 2000.

• Main Authors: Effects Of Dietary, D. J. Mckenzie, G. Piraccini, M. Piccolella, J. F. Steffensen, C. L. Bolis, E. W. Taylor
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Key words; blood O2 content; menhaden oil; n-3 fatty acids; O2 uptake; plasma lactate; tissue lipids; ventilation; Anguilla anguilla
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1.5449; http://www.mbl.ku.dk/JFSteffensen/FishPhysBiochem00.PDF

European eels (Anguilla anguilla, L.) were fed on a commercial diet supplemented either with 15% by dry feed weight of menhaden oil (MO), an oil rich in highly unsaturated fatty acids of the n-3 series (n-3 HUFA), or with 15% by dry feed weight of coconut oil (CO), an oil composed primarily of saturated fatty acids (SFA). Following 90 days of feeding, the mean final masses of eels fed the two different oil supplements were similar, and higher than the mean final mass of a group fed the commercial diet alone. The diets created two distinct phenotypes of eels, distinguished by the fatty acid (FA) composition of their tissue lipids. Eels fed MO had significantly more total n-3 FA and n-3 HUFA in muscle and liver lipids than did eels fed CO, leading to higher n-3/n-6 and eicosapentaenoic acid/arachidonic acid ratios in the MO group. Measurements of O 2 uptake (MO 2 ) revealed that the MO group had a significantly lower routine metabolic rate (RMR) than the CO group. When exposed to progressive hypoxia, both groups regulated MO 2 at routine normoxic levels until critical water O 2 partial pressures that were statistically similar (9.621.08 kPa in MO versus 7.571.07 kPa in CO), beyond which they showed a reduction in MO 2 below RMR. The MO group exhibited a significantly lower MO 2 than the CO group throughout hypoxic exposure, but the percentage reductions in MO 2 below their relative RMR were equal in both groups. During recovery to normoxia, both groups exhibited an increase in MO 2 to rates significantly higher than their RMR. Throughout recovery, MO 2 was significantly lower in the MO group compared with the CO group, but the percentage increases in MO 2 relative to RMR were equal in both. During progressive hypoxia, neither group exhibited a marked ventilatory reflex re.