Background and aims
With the rapid development of aquaculture and the gradual decrease in fisheries resources, the issues of fish welfare and ecological adaptability in various aquatic scenarios have garnered significant attention from animal protection organizations, government departments, conservation biologists, fish culturists, and the public. Environmental enrichment (EE) can potentially benefit specific aspects of fish conditions, but the relevant results are sharply mixed, and the drivers for these discrepancies and the underpinning mechanisms are largely unclear.
Methods and results
In recent years, through a series of behavioural, physiological, and molecular experiments and global meta-analyses, we demonstrated the great application potential of EE in improving fish growth, stress response and ecological fitness.
Conclusion
The comprehensive knowledge obtained here will provide insights into fish ontogenetic plasticity and its responses to EE and have important implications for improving the production cycle in fish aquaculture and fisheries conservation.