Feeding behavior of fish and its control.

Feeding behavior is a complex behavior that is closely associated with food intake. Fish have a wide variety of feeding habits and feeding patterns making them good experimental models for the study of the regulation of feeding behavior. The aquatic nature of fish often creates challenges in the study of feeding behavior and different approaches have been used by researchers, including field studies, observations of free-living animals, and laboratory experiments. Feeding behavior is regulated by a number of environmental factors and also by complex homeostatic mechanisms that involve central and peripheral hormonal factors as well as metabolites. This review summarizes our current knowledge on the control of feeding behavior of fish, with emphasis on the methodology used and on the endocrine and metabolic regulation of feeding.