Food consumption and gastric emptying of Farfantepenaeus paulensis

The effect of Farfantepenaeus paulensis body weight (BW) on food consumption (FC) and gastric emptying (GE) was determined for four shrimp size classes (SC) under laboratory conditions: SC1 = 1.36 ± 0.43 g (mean wet BW ± S.D.); SC2 = 2.99 ± 0.47 g; SC3 = 5.55 ± 0.52 g and SC4 = 7.23 ± 0.50 g. FC increased gradually with shrimp size, but in terms of food consumed per BW higher values were recorded for smaller shrimp. GE did not differ significantly among shrimp size groups and the most pronounced reduction in stomach contents occurred after 3 h of food deprivation. The body weight of F. paulensis was shown to be a practical indicator of FC for F. paulensis. The absence of a correlation between shrimp size and GE permits the same feeding frequency to be used in the range of sizes tested.