The practice of mitigating cannibalism in aquaculture is an important focus for hatcheries seeking to maximize yield and has been maintained in hatcheries focusing on wild stock restoration. We hypothesize, however, that a cannibal feeding strategy may confer performance advantages over a non-cannibal feeding strategy and that perhaps cannibal size grading may not be optimal for hatcheries focusing on conservation goals. This study examined metabolic performance differences between cannibal and non-cannibal burbot, Lota lota maculosa, at the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho Twin Rivers Hatchery in Moyie Springs, ID, USA. After habitat alteration led to functional extinction of burbot in the region, the Twin Rivers Hatchery has played a leading role in the reestablishment of burbot in the Kootenai River, ID, and British Columbia. We examined morphometric data (weight, length and condition factor), whole animal resting metabolic rate and the enzyme activity of lactate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase to describe the baseline metabolic performance of cannibal and non-cannibal burbot. Taken together, our results demonstrated significant differences in the metabolic strategies of cannibal vs. non-cannibal burbot, where cannibals relied more heavily on carbohydrate metabolism and non-cannibals relied more heavily on glycolytic and lipid metabolism. This study demonstrates the need to reevaluate the traditional practice of removing cannibal fish in conservation hatcheries, as it may not be the ideal strategy of raising the most robust individuals for release. When natural habitat conditions cannot be restored due to permanent habitat alteration, prioritizing release of higher performing individuals could help achieve conservation goals.

中文翻译：

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食人族的进食策略是否会赋予年轻的江鳕（Lota lota maculosa）不同的代谢性能？

减轻水产养殖中食人行为的做法是寻求最大化产量的孵化场的重要重点，并且在以野生种群恢复为重点的孵化场中得到了保持。但是，我们假设食人动物的饲养策略可能比非食人动物的饲养策略具有性能优势，并且食人动物的大小分级对于专注于保护目标的孵化场可能不是最佳的。这项研究检查了美国爱达荷州斯普林斯爱达荷州双子河孵化场的Kootenai部落食人和非食人的Burbot（Lota lota maculosa）之间的代谢性能差异。在栖息地改变导致该地区的江鳕功能性灭绝之后，Twin Rivers孵化场在爱达荷州科特奈河和不列颠哥伦比亚省的江鳕重建中发挥了主导作用。我们检查了形态数据（体重，长度和条件因子），整只动物的静息代谢率以及乳酸脱氢酶，柠檬酸合酶和3-羟酰基-CoA脱氢酶的酶活性，以描述食人和非食人Burbot的基线代谢性能。两者合计，我们的研究结果表明，食人族与非食族的Burbot的代谢策略存在显着差异，食人族对碳水化合物的代谢更加依赖，非食族对糖酵解和脂质代谢的依赖更大。这项研究表明有必要重新评估保护性孵化场中去除食人鱼的传统做法，因为这可能不是养育最强壮个体进行释放的理想策略。