Why do some fish grow faster than others?

All animals must acquire food to grow, but there is a vast diversity in how different species and even different individuals approach and achieve this task. Individuals within a species appear to fall along a bold-shy continuum, whereby some fish acquire food aggressively and with seemingly high risk, while others appear more submissive and opportunistic. Greater food consumption generally results in faster growth, but only if the energy acquired through food is more than enough to compensate for heightened metabolism associated with a more active lifestyle. Fast-growing phenotypes also tend to have elevated baseline metabolism - at least when food is plentiful - which may be linked with gut morphology and digestive efficiency. The net energy gained from a meal (as calculated from the specific dynamic action (SDA) coefficient) is optimised with larger meal sizes, but the digestion of large meals can erode the aerobic metabolic scope available for other critical activities such as predator avoidance, perhaps at an interindividual level. Thus, complex interactions between an individual's genes and environment are likely to regulate the growth phenotype. This review compiles available knowledge to shed light on the question: Why do some fish grow faster than others? We discuss the elaborate interrelationships between behaviour, physiology and the gut microbiome with a goal to better understand what drives interindividual differences in growth performance.

Automated summary

All animals need food to grow, but the strategies for acquiring food vary greatly among different species and individuals. Some fish are aggressive and take high risks to obtain food, while others are more submissive and opportunistic. Faster growth is generally associated with greater food consumption, as long as the energy obtained from the food exceeds the metabolic cost of an active lifestyle. However, fast-growing fish also have higher baseline metabolism, which may be related to their gut morphology and digestive efficiency. The interplay between an individual's genes and environment plays a crucial role in regulating their growth phenotype. This review aims to understand why some fish grow faster than others by exploring the intricate relationships among behavior, physiology, and the gut microbiome.