Article,
Biochemical cost of a fight in fed and fasted Betta splendens
Physiology and Behavior, 49 (1): 79--82 (January 1991)
Abstract
Examined behavioral and biochemical effects of threat displays and fights for 45 fed and fasted fish. A week-long fast resulted in subtle behavioral modifications and a significant reduction in muscle glycogen. Threat displays had no effect on carcass composition. In the course of fighting, fed Ss degraded large amounts of lipids, glycogen and amino acids, while fasted Ss degraded only glycogen. Two hypotheses were proposed to explain the difference between the biochemical effects of a fight in fed and starved Ss: (1) only glycogen use is significant with respect to the ability of winning, or (2) fasted Ss may have spared energy somehow behaviorally.
