PREDICTION IN VIVO OF THE FILLET VOLUME IN SENEGALESE SOLE (SOLEA SENEGALENSIS) BY MULTIPLE CONSECUTIVE TRANSVERSE REAL TIME ULTRASONOGRAPHY IMAGES

Solea senegalensis have been considered as promising new flatfish species for Mediterranean marine fish farming. Accurate prediction of fillet traits in live animals may allow more efficient genetic improvement and control of muscle deposition in fish. As a result, this study was undertaken to develop a rapid non-destmctive and non invasive method to predict in vivo fish fillet volume using real time ultrasonography (RTU) and image analysis. The trial was conducted with 11 market weight Senegalese sole (271+77g). Fishes were scanned under anaesthesia with an Aloka SSD 500V with a 7.5 MHz. The RTU images were taken in cross-sectional slices (S1 to S10) from the operculum to the caudal fin. These images were analyzed using the ImageJ software and cross-sectional slices volumes of fillet were obtained. Fillet volume was determined by dissection. Correlation and regression analysis were done. The S1 to S6 cross sections show the best correlation with fillet volume (r varied between 0.77 and 0.95; P < 0.01). The best model explains 98% of the fillet volume variation and was obtained by stepwise procedure with S3, S2 and S4 cross-sectional slices volumes. This study showed that fillet volume of can be accurately predicted in vivo by RTU and image analysis.