Digestion rate of food particles in the gut of larval herring (Clupea harengus L)

Abstract

Laboratory experiments with herring larvae (Clupea harengus L.) from the local stock in Lindåspollene, north of Bergen, Norway, were performed in the spring of 1978 and 1979. Digestion rates of copepod nauplii and polychaet larvae less than 1.5 hours were found both in first-feeding (8 days post-hatching) and in more advanced (22 days post-hatching) larvae. Bivalve larvae passed undigested through the gut. The rate of passage through the gut varied between 12.5 and 22.5 hours, depending on the type of food organisms. The light conditions in the laboratory seemed to be the most important cause of the observed food selection.