EFFECT OF CULTURE CONDITIONS ON WELFARE OF JUVENILE EUROPEAN SEABASS (DICENTRARCHUS LABRAX), USING PHYSIOLOGICAL AND GENETIC INDICATORS

摘要

In the last years the consumers are having an increased interest about the quality and methods employed on the production of aqua cultured products, including the origin of the animals (Cooke, 2001; Wall, 2001). In this sense some methods have been developed to estimate the degree of welfare on animals, and some possible welfare indicators have been described such as physiological (including stress-related hormones and enzymes related with energy metabolism) and genetic indicators. The aim of this study was to measure the degree of welfare in European sea bass considering the acclimatization to confinement under different rearing conditions, in terms of animal behaviour, growth and feed utilization.