Estimation of food consumption from field observations of fish feeding cycles

The available methods of estimating food consumption by fish require that experiments be performed on confined animals and that experimental results may be validly applied to free fish. A method is described by which food consumption in periodically feeding fish may be estimated without performing laboratory experiments. A relatively simple input–output model of stomach contents is fitted to the observed time trajectory of stomach fullness, and food consumption is calculated from the estimated model parameters. Feeding is considered to be restricted to a distinct feeding period, and the rate of feeding during that period can be either constant or linearly decreased with the quantity of food already present in the stomach. The method is applied to three examples. The model appears robust, and generally provides very similar food consumption estimates to those obtained from methods requiring an independent estimate of gastric evacuation rate. However, the described method is sensitive to violation of the assumption that feeding occurs only during a discrete feeding period.