Abstract
The experiment was conducted for 210 days to determine the effect of feeding, and starvation, and exposure to sodium nitrite (NaNO(2)) on the survival, physiological changes, hematological parameter, and stress response of Far Eastern catfish, Silurus asotus. The survival of the starved group was lower than that of the fed group during the experiment. Starvation resulted in retardation of growth, which provides an example of fish that failed to continue to grow and remain in a good condition. Blood analyses (cortisol and glucose) showed significant differences of stress response between the fed and starved groups exposed to NaNO(2) at the conclusion of the experiment (p<0.05). These results suggest that all nutritional parameters used for starvation and feeding with NaNO(2) stress in this experiment appear to be a useful index of nutritional status in Far Eastern catfish.