The effect of meal size and meal duration on food anticipatory activity in greenback flounder

Latency of food anticipatory activity (FAA) in greenback flounder Rhombosolea tapirina was about 21 days. Fish fed at meal sizes of 0.25 and 0.5% W day-1 exhibited FAA under meal durations of 1, 3 and 7 h. Fish fed at 1.5% W day-1 showed FAA only at a meal duration of 1 h. At each meal size, FAA was shorter and lower the longer the duration of the meal. The mean durations of FAA and post-feeding activity were correlated positively (r=0.87; P<0.0; n=7). FAA persisted for <3 days during food deprivation. It is suggested that greenback flounder was capable of evaluating the energetic and temporal impacts of a single daily meal. © 2001 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.