Table 2. Information on age and weight of fish during the prolonged SW stay.

Significance as determined by two-way ANOVA. SGR -Specific growth rate, FCR -Feed conversion ratio.

	AGE (weeks)		BIOMASS (g)
Treatment	SW entry	SW end	SW entry	SW mid-phase	SW end	Increase (%)	p-value	SGR	FCR
2WSP	56	60	67.2±10.9	68.8±11.6	70.6±11.4	5.1	n.s.	0.169	8.27
4WSP	58	62	69.4±8.7	73.8±10.2	83.0±12.5	19.6	< 0.001	0.586	2.31
8WSP	62	66	73.9±11.8	80.8±12.5	94.1±15.1	27. 3	<0.0001	0.839	2.11

In addition to differences in food intake, and weight gain, moderate changes in CF were observed (S5 Table). Upon transfer to SW the fish in the 8WSP group had a significantly lower CF than those in the 2WSP group (p<0.05), while an intermediate value was seen in the 4WSP fish. Only the fish in the 2WSP group showed a significant decrease in CF over the four weeks in SW (p<0.001).