Post-prandial changes in digestive enzymes and chyme characteristics of bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana)

Bigfin reef squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana) is a candidate squid species that has potential to be utilized in aquaculture on a commercial scale. Although this species has been successfully cultured over multiple generations, appropriate feeding strategies are still limited due to a lack of understanding of its digestive physiology. The present study focused on digestive enzymes and chyme characteristics in terms of time response profiles following feeding. Squids (1.78 ± 0.05 g body weight) were serially collected at different post-prandial times (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 18 and 24 h) and the specimens were used in the analysis of digestive enzymes (n = 10) and chyme characteristics (n = 5). Food provided to the animals substantially transited to the gastrointestinal tract and peaked at 1 h after feeding, and then dramatically decreased with post-prandial time (P