A good knowledge of themain events occurring at ontogenetic level,
and the characteristics of the development during the larval phase is essential
to advance in the design of more appropriate feeds and feeding
protocols during this stage. Despite that most fish species exhibits a
general pattern of somatic, sensory or endocrine development, temporal
variability is an essential characteristic in the ontogeny among teleosts.
These inter-specific ontogenic variations are related to transitional
and definitive feeding habitswhen the juvenile stage is attained, and affect
to the presence/absence and relative size of some structures aswell
as to the temporal sequence of histophysiological events. In addition,
a high developmental plasticity has been observed in the larval stage
in relation to environmental circumstances including dietary conditions
(Pittman et al., 2013). In fact, rearing conditions (water physical and
chemical characteristics, larval density, prey type, etc.) strongly affect
growth, survival and larval performance.