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Principles of fish nutrition
BOOK
291
REVIEWS
UK. It seems that the main reasons for this limitation were easy access to the journals published in these countries, as well as lack of knowledge of languages other than English. This reduces the value of the book as a textbook outside the two nations mentioned. Also, especially in the relatively ill-defined field of ecology, it leaves out scores of valuable publications in German and French. I single out German publications, as German scientists are leaders in the lield of ecology. Another limitation is that the examples used in the book are freshwater, northern hemisphere, temperate fishes - well suited for the UK and the USA, the main selling area (?), but it will not help to realise the author’s wish that the book will become a classic text (whatever that means ) . Let these remarks not distract from the fact that Wootton’s book is a welcome addition. It is well written, the paperback edition brings it within reach of many readers, and I hope it will reach them. Netherlands
S.J. DE GROOT Institute.for Fishery Investigations. IJmuiden. Netherlands
FISH NUTRITION
Principles ofFish Nutrition. Werner Steffens. Ellis Hoi-wood Ltd., Chichester, UK, 1989. 384 pp., price E59.95, ISBN o-7458-0555-8 (Ellis Horwood), o-470-2 1559-3 (Halsted Press). The content of this book (English translation of Grundlugen der Fischerniihrung) is a concentration of lectures delivered by Professor Werner Steffens for over 25 years to students who majored in fish production at the Humboldt University in Berlin. The first edition of this book appeared in 1985 in the German Democratic Republic. Upon publication of the English edition, the author updated the text by incorporating new literature as much as possible. The objective of the book, as stated by the author, is to provide a perspective of the present state of knowledge on fish nutrition to increase the level of fish culture and supply a means of orientation for those involved in the practice of aquaculture or concerned with the production of feed for the fish farming industry. The first section, entitled “Principles of metabolism”, examines the factors affecting metabolism of fish, such as fish size, environmental conditions and food intake or fasting, to achieve the fastest growth of fish in the shortest possible time under economically acceptable conditions, which is the primary aim of fish culture. In the second section, “Anatomy and physiology of the digestive tract” are discussed from the standpoint of dietary physiology, i.e.,
292
BOOK REVIEWS
the economically important species were divided into two groups, fishes with or without a stomach, instead of the generally accepted subdivision of fish into predatory and non-predatory species. Macro-nutrients such as proteins, fats and carbohydrates are subjects of the third section. Protein, amino acid and fatty acid requirements and availability or digestibility of these nutrients are described, emphasizing the differences among fish species. Reflecting the increasing importance of dietary energy content, “Energy requirement” is independently discussed in the fourth section. Significant contributions by German scientists on efficient utilization of dietary energy and optimal protein/energy ratios are well documented, including those written in German which tend to be neglected by readers who cannot read German. Micro-nutrients such as vitamins and minerals are dealt with separately in sections live and six. The latest developments in the studies on trace elements are well covered in this section. The author also presents large numbers of original descriptive figures ( 10 1) and tables ( 162) which are very useful but, in certain cases, there is some confusion where the data have not been well digested by the author. For instance, the author concludes that the great importance of the pyloric caeca for digestion and resorption is clearly apparent from the fact that their serosal surface is much larger than that of the intestine ( p. 44, bottom line), whereas, on the next page, he cites a reference which states that no relationship could be established between the number and length of pyloric caeca and digestibility for either fat or protein. The bibliography of more than 1400 references and the subject and author indexes enhance the potential usefulness of this book for students and academic and industrial researchers. Except for a few words that have been translated to a form not commonly used by fish nutritionists, such as “fishery culture”, “ proteids” and “isodynamics”, the translation is fairly well done. T. MURAI Research Coordinator, National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Tokyo 104, Japan
ROTIFER SYMPOSIUM
Rotifer Symposium
V. C. Ricci, T.W. Snell and C.E. Ring (Editors). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1990. Reprinted from Hydrobiologiu ~01s. 186/ 187 ( 1989). 464 pp., price Dfl. 350.00/&l 16.00, ISBN o-7923-041 3-6.
Out of 53 contributions to this symposium there are several papers of interest to the readers of Aquaculture. First of all the last part (live) deserves
291
REVIEWS
UK. It seems that the main reasons for this limitation were easy access to the journals published in these countries, as well as lack of knowledge of languages other than English. This reduces the value of the book as a textbook outside the two nations mentioned. Also, especially in the relatively ill-defined field of ecology, it leaves out scores of valuable publications in German and French. I single out German publications, as German scientists are leaders in the lield of ecology. Another limitation is that the examples used in the book are freshwater, northern hemisphere, temperate fishes - well suited for the UK and the USA, the main selling area (?), but it will not help to realise the author’s wish that the book will become a classic text (whatever that means ) . Let these remarks not distract from the fact that Wootton’s book is a welcome addition. It is well written, the paperback edition brings it within reach of many readers, and I hope it will reach them. Netherlands
S.J. DE GROOT Institute.for Fishery Investigations. IJmuiden. Netherlands
FISH NUTRITION
Principles ofFish Nutrition. Werner Steffens. Ellis Hoi-wood Ltd., Chichester, UK, 1989. 384 pp., price E59.95, ISBN o-7458-0555-8 (Ellis Horwood), o-470-2 1559-3 (Halsted Press). The content of this book (English translation of Grundlugen der Fischerniihrung) is a concentration of lectures delivered by Professor Werner Steffens for over 25 years to students who majored in fish production at the Humboldt University in Berlin. The first edition of this book appeared in 1985 in the German Democratic Republic. Upon publication of the English edition, the author updated the text by incorporating new literature as much as possible. The objective of the book, as stated by the author, is to provide a perspective of the present state of knowledge on fish nutrition to increase the level of fish culture and supply a means of orientation for those involved in the practice of aquaculture or concerned with the production of feed for the fish farming industry. The first section, entitled “Principles of metabolism”, examines the factors affecting metabolism of fish, such as fish size, environmental conditions and food intake or fasting, to achieve the fastest growth of fish in the shortest possible time under economically acceptable conditions, which is the primary aim of fish culture. In the second section, “Anatomy and physiology of the digestive tract” are discussed from the standpoint of dietary physiology, i.e.,
292
BOOK REVIEWS
the economically important species were divided into two groups, fishes with or without a stomach, instead of the generally accepted subdivision of fish into predatory and non-predatory species. Macro-nutrients such as proteins, fats and carbohydrates are subjects of the third section. Protein, amino acid and fatty acid requirements and availability or digestibility of these nutrients are described, emphasizing the differences among fish species. Reflecting the increasing importance of dietary energy content, “Energy requirement” is independently discussed in the fourth section. Significant contributions by German scientists on efficient utilization of dietary energy and optimal protein/energy ratios are well documented, including those written in German which tend to be neglected by readers who cannot read German. Micro-nutrients such as vitamins and minerals are dealt with separately in sections live and six. The latest developments in the studies on trace elements are well covered in this section. The author also presents large numbers of original descriptive figures ( 10 1) and tables ( 162) which are very useful but, in certain cases, there is some confusion where the data have not been well digested by the author. For instance, the author concludes that the great importance of the pyloric caeca for digestion and resorption is clearly apparent from the fact that their serosal surface is much larger than that of the intestine ( p. 44, bottom line), whereas, on the next page, he cites a reference which states that no relationship could be established between the number and length of pyloric caeca and digestibility for either fat or protein. The bibliography of more than 1400 references and the subject and author indexes enhance the potential usefulness of this book for students and academic and industrial researchers. Except for a few words that have been translated to a form not commonly used by fish nutritionists, such as “fishery culture”, “ proteids” and “isodynamics”, the translation is fairly well done. T. MURAI Research Coordinator, National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Tokyo 104, Japan
ROTIFER SYMPOSIUM
Rotifer Symposium
V. C. Ricci, T.W. Snell and C.E. Ring (Editors). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1990. Reprinted from Hydrobiologiu ~01s. 186/ 187 ( 1989). 464 pp., price Dfl. 350.00/&l 16.00, ISBN o-7923-041 3-6.
Out of 53 contributions to this symposium there are several papers of interest to the readers of Aquaculture. First of all the last part (live) deserves