Swimming-enhanced growth

Abstract

Swimming, in the form of exercise training leads to enhanced growth in many, but not all species of fish, usually accompanied by increased food conversion efficiencies. Salmonid fish certainly show improved growth. Training must be at the right (optimum) swimming speed, and the available evidence suggests that continuous rather than intermittent swimming is important, at least in salmonid culture. Those fish that do show enhanced growth tend to have active lifestyles and we put forward the hypothesis that metabolic scope is a determining factor: those fish with a large metabolic scope will benefit from an exercise regime.