Body abnormalities in relation to size and sex of laboratory reared European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax L.

Abstract

      Juvenile sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) were separated into two groups according to body size. The first group consisted of fish up to a weight of 1.8 g (mean±SD=1.49±0.22 g) and the other from a weight of 3.25 g (4.28±0.96 g). A third or mix group consisted of the samples from the origi­nal rearing stock (2.43 ±0.84 g). After 16 months of rearing, the small fish group showed a higher incidence of mouth and spine deformations than the large one. In both groups fish with deforma­tions had a lower body weight than the normal fish. Deformations of the mouth and spine were not related to sex and were independent from the type of spinal deformation.