First feeding of the European hake Merluccius merluccius: selective preys and prey density

Abstract

The European hake is a top predator which first feeding preferences are largely unknown, despite being suspected that certain prey species and sizes are preferred. This knowledge is relevant for exogenous hatchery food supply during early life stages of hake, but remains elusive due to the difficulty of maintaining, spawning and harvesting hakes (Iglesias et al. 2010) to properly test its natural diets. Post-hatching early stages of hake are believed to feed at low light intensities associated to the deep water column, so testing parallel experimental designs of light-intensity vs. preys are key to undertake this species’ domestication. We examined in vitro prey preference, prey density and mortality of starved 7-8 DPH hake larvae under 12 zooplankton-based diets.