Fish Fat Meter used to measure energy content of anchovy and sardine using surrogate calorimetry methods

Title	Energy content of anchovy and sardine using surrogate calorimetry methods
Written by	Claudia Campanini, Marta Albo-Puigserver, Sara Gérez, Elena Lloret-Lloret, Joan Giménez, Maria Grazia Pennino, Jose Maria Bellido, Ana I. Colmenero, Marta Coll
From	Institute of Marine Sciences, Spain Universidade do Algarve, Portugal University College Cork, Ireland Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Spain
Published	February 1, 2021
Fish Species	Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), Sardine (Sardina pilchardus)
Key Words	European anchovy, sardine, fatmeter, calorimetry, body condition.

What the research is about

The aim of this study is to test the application of the Fish Fat Meter as a surrogate of bomb calorimetry to infer the energy content of both small pelagic fishes. For the validation, the Fish Fat Meter values were compared with both energy density (ED; via bomb calorimetry) and Kn values.

Research conclusion

The Fish Fat Meter measurements strongly correlated with calorimetry for sardine, while a weaker but significant correlation was found for anchovy. The observed differences between the two species are related to their breeding strategies. Based on this study, the Fish Fat Meter analysis appears to be a faster and suitable method to evaluate the energy content of both species routinely. In addition, we provide a linear model to infer the Energy Density from Fish Fat Meter values of both small pelagic fish. Eventually, these findings could allow for the avoidance of bomb calorimetry and could be used to implement body condition monitoring protocols and to boost continuous large-scale monitoring.