Optimum feeding rates for European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax L. reared in seawater and freshwater

Growth, feed conversion efficiency, fillet composition and morphological indices of European sea bass (initial weight of 2.6±0.3 g) were investigated in a 6×2 factorial designed experiment employing two salinities [seawater (SW, 40 ppt) and freshwater (FW, 0.4 ppt)] and six different feeding rates (2.0%, 2.5%, 3.0%, 3.5%, 4.0% of their body weight (bw) day −1 and to satiation) for 60 days. Twenty fish were stocked into 155-l round tanks and each treatment had three replicate tanks. Throughout the experiment, weight gain and specific growth rate (SGR) were highest at ration 4.0 bw day −1 and to satiation in SW group. Regardless of feeding rate, sea bass fingerlings grew about 20–30% more in SW than those reared in FW. There was a significant ( P