Nutrition Physiology of Juveniles Individuals of Pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Samara Bay (Ukraine)

The article presents the results of studies physiology of nutrition of juveniles individuals of pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Zaporizhzhia (Dnipro) reservoir. histological structure, morphometric parameters of digestive system and nutrition biology were investigated. The material for work were collected during scientific research in June-July 2016–2017. The ichthyological sampling was carried out in the Samara Bay of the Zaporizhzhia (Dnipro) reservoir. Researches of structure of digestive system were conducted using histological methods, researches of nutrition were conducted using ichthyological and hydrobiological methods The height of the intestinal epithelium of the pumpkinseed`s juveniles varies from 15.5 microns to 51.9 microns and on average is 32.59 ± 9.03 microns, the area of secretory goblet cells of the intestine reaches 198.61 ± 36.55 μm2. It was revealed that the pumkinseed’s juveniles only feed on phytoplankton. Research results can be useful for further study on the fish nutrition, especially sexual matured. Also, nutrition studies can help to find biomeliorative methods to combat the pumpkinseed, because the species is in competition with industrially valuable species of fish for fodder.