Peters Christopher, Infante Villamil Sandra, Nankervis Leo
Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia.
Ornatas Pty Ltd., Toomulla Beach, Townsville, QLD 4816, Australia.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Oct 15;14(20):2971. doi: 10.3390/ani14202971.
Significant research investment into tropical rock lobster (TRL) aquaculture production methods has led to a rapidly developing industry in Vietnam and, more recently, in Australia. The need for an effective formulated feed has been highlighted for both industries; however, feed intake has been a consistent limitation. Visual and chemical cues regulating feed recognition and consumption are expected to yield valuable data, leading to increased feed intake. Lobsters were placed in white- and grey-coloured enclosures to examine the effect of background colour on their feeding behaviour in terms of feeding occurrence and response time. The impact of background colour on TRL feeding behaviour found no statistically significant differences between TRL in white and grey enclosures, suggesting grayscale contrast does not directly affect feeding behaviour. Experiment 2 studied the effects of coloured feeding zones on feeding response in white enclosures. Yellow feeding zones led to a decreased feeding time (473 ± 443 s) and increased time spent feeding (168 ± 1832 s) compared to other colours, possibly due to the yellow-blue chromaticity (b*) contrast. Experiment 3 examined chemo-attractants (glycine, taurine and inositol) and their influence on the feeding behaviour of TRL, but no increased responses were observed. Experiments two and three assessed TRL feeding activity in morning and evening periods, highlighting their nocturnal behaviour, with more feeding occurring in the evening. This project enhances our understanding of photoreceptive and chemoreceptive factors affecting TRL feeding behaviour with formulated feed. It also reveals the potential for background colour changes to enhance marketable colours in commercial settings. Additionally, the study confirmed the effective use of animal tracking software (EthoVision XT) for lobster species tracking in future behavioural trials.
对热带岩龙虾（TRL）养殖生产方法的大量研究投入，使得越南以及最近澳大利亚的该行业迅速发展。两个行业都强调了对有效配方饲料的需求；然而，采食量一直是一个持续存在的限制因素。调节饲料识别和消耗的视觉和化学线索有望产生有价值的数据，从而提高采食量。将龙虾放置在白色和灰色的围栏中，以研究背景颜色对其摄食行为的影响，包括摄食发生率和反应时间。背景颜色对TRL摄食行为的影响发现，白色和灰色围栏中的TRL之间没有统计学上的显著差异，这表明灰度对比度不会直接影响摄食行为。实验2研究了彩色喂食区对白色围栏中摄食反应的影响。与其他颜色相比，黄色喂食区导致摄食时间减少（473±443秒），摄食时间增加（168±1832秒），这可能是由于黄蓝色度（b*）对比度。实验3研究了化学引诱剂（甘氨酸、牛磺酸和肌醇）及其对TRL摄食行为的影响，但未观察到反应增加。实验二和实验三评估了TRL在早晨和晚上的摄食活动，突出了它们的夜行性，晚上的摄食更多。该项目增强了我们对影响TRL对配方饲料摄食行为的光感受和化学感受因素的理解。它还揭示了在商业环境中通过改变背景颜色来增强可销售颜色的潜力。此外，该研究证实了动物跟踪软件（EthoVision XT）在未来行为试验中用于龙虾物种跟踪的有效性。
