Effects of starvation and feeding on the fatty acid profiles of Stage I phyllosoma of the spiny lobster, Jasus edwardsii

Fatty acid analyses were conducted on newly hatched and 8‐day‐old‐starved and fed Stage I phyllosoma larvae of the spiny lobster, Jasus edwardsii. Fed animals were offered excess 1.5 mm juvenile Artemia (enriched using the alga Isochrysis galbana, Tahitian isolate, T. iso.). After 8 days, there were significant increases in larval dry weight and the proportion of lipid in fed phyllosoma, whereas these parameters decreased in starved phyllosoma. The abundance of the saturated fatty acids 16 : 0 and 18 : 0 increased in both starved and fed phyllosoma, whereas the main monounsaturated fatty acids 16 : 1n‐7, 18 : 1n‐9 and 18 : 1n‐7 increased with feeding but decreased with starvation. There were no significant differences in the relative proportions of the highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) arachidonic (AA, 20 : 4n‐6), eicosapentaenoic (EPA, 20 : 5n‐3) and docosahexanoic (DHA, 22 : 6n‐3) acids between newly hatched and starved animals, whereas quantitatively DHA decreased with starvation and feeding. The DHA/EPA ratio was significantly lower in the starved and fed phyllosoma (0.5) compared with that found in the newly hatched phyllosoma (0.9). The lipid profiles of the newly hatched, starved and fed phyllosoma contained large amounts of n‐6 fatty acids resulting in low n‐3 : n‐6 ratios (2.8, 2.7 and 1.6 respectively). The importance of these results and the ability of enriched Artemia to provide a suitable fatty acid profile for this species are discussed.     

Comparison of four antibiotics with indigenous marine Bacillus spp. in controlling pathogenic bacteria from shrimp and Artemia

Use of antibiotics for the control of bacterial diseases in shrimp culture has caused several adverse impacts to the industry. This has resulted in the search for alternative environment friendly approaches to overcome bacterial infections. This study was conducted to investigate the use of beneficial bacteria as an alternative to antibiotics. Ten pathogenic bacterial species isolated from shrimp, Penaeus monodon, and Artemia cysts were tested for susceptibility to indigenous marine Bacillus subtilis AB65, Bacillus pumilus AB58, Bacillus licheniformis AB69 and compared with oxytetracycline, chloramphenicol, gentamicin and bacitracin, which are common antibiotics used in Asian aquaculture. The Bacillus spp. were isolated from the local marine environment for bioremediation use in shrimp hatcheries and were proven to reduce total ammonium nitrogen. The pathogenic bacterial isolates were 90% susceptible to B. subtilis AB65, 70% susceptible to B. pumilus AB58 and B. licheniformis AB69 and 100% susceptible to oxytetracycline, chloramphenicol and gentamicin but only 40% to bacitracin. Two representative isolates of the vibrio group, Vibrio alginolyticus VaM11 and Vibrio parahaemolyticus VpM1, when tested for competitive exclusion by a common broth method using the marine Bacillus spp., showed decreased viable counts from 10(8) to 10(2) cfu mL(-1). The results suggest that the action of the marine bacteria appears to be significant in protecting the host shrimp against pathogenic bacteria. In addition to the alternative use of antibiotics, the selected marine bacteria had additional bioremediation properties of reducing ammonia.     

Fatty acid composition and biometry of five Greek Artemia populations suitable for aquaculture purposes

Evaluation of a new‐to‐science Artemia population and comparison with four other existing populations were carried out. Five parthenogenetic Artemia populations from the following Greek saltworks were studied: Alyki (a new population), Kalloni, Milos, Polychnitos and Messolongi. The diameters of non‐decapsulated and decapsulated cysts as well as the lengths of nauplii instar stages I, II and III were measured. In addition, the fatty acid composition of decapsulated cysts was estimated. The cyst size of the Alyki population was the smallest, with the largest chorion found in Greece so far. The Messolongi population had the largest cysts, with the smallest chorion of all five populations. The diameter of the non‐decapsulated cysts was highly related (P<0.01) to the length of the nauplii instar I, II and III. The diameter of decapsulated cysts was found to be the most stable and reliable biometric characteristic. The study of their fatty acids profiles revealed that the Polychnitos and Messolongi populations are suitable as live food for freshwater species, while the Alyki, Milos and Kalloni populations are suitable for marine species, having high levels (8.9%, 11.2% and 12.5% respectively) of eicosapentaenoic acid and detectable amounts (0.3%, 0.1% and 0.2% respectively) of docosahexaenoic acid.     

Bacterial load reduction of live prey for fish larval feeding using Ox-Aquaculture©

Reduction of the bacterial load in live prey is paramount to achieving efficient microbiological control during fish larval rearing. Several methods have been tested using physical and chemical disinfection procedures. Nevertheless, chemicals are difficult to deal with because of the frequent problems encountered when disposing of their residual products and because of the sensitivity of the live prey. Hydrogen peroxide is a good disinfectant that has been used for a long time in other fields of research and decomposes in non‐toxic products. However, it has not been applied for disinfection in aquaculture until recent years. The effects of a hydrogen peroxide‐based product, Ox‐Aquaculture^©, on rotifers and Artemia nauplii survival and on their associated microbial population have been tested in the present study, a disinfection protocol is proposed, and its effects on live prey fatty acids composition after enrichment were checked. More than 80% survival and a 90% reduction of total heterotrophic bacteria and Vibrionaceae were obtained in rotifers exposed for 15 min to 40 mg L^?1 of the product. In the case of Artemia nauplii, 90% survival and 94.5% reduction of heterotrophic bacteria were obtained after 5 min exposure to 8000 mg L^?1 with a further 82.8% reduction of Vibrionaceae. No differences in the fatty acid composition of the live prey were detected after disinfection with hydrogen peroxide. No oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids was observed. A short time exposure and easy removal of the product from the treated live prey make hydrogen peroxide an interesting chemical for industrial application.     

Differential host passaging alters pathogenicity and induces genomic variation in white spot syndrome virus

To understand the pathological effects of passaging WSSV through different animals, we passaged WSSV through crabs (Portunus sanguinolentus and P. pelagicus), prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) and artemia (Artemia sp.). Among the three geographically distinct WSSV isolates (A166, G9 and G27) that caused over 95% mortalities in experimental infections in P. monodon, only two isolates (A166 and G9) caused mortality (5%) in M. rosenbergii. On subsequent infection of P. monodon with the passage one virus (P1V) from M. rosenbergii, only P1V of A166 caused 5% mortality while P1V of G9 failed to cause any mortality, though the infected shrimp were positive for WSSV by nested PCR. Crabs showed differential susceptibility to WSSV isolates. While passaging WSSV (G9) through P. sanguinolentus retained pathogenicity, passaging through P. pelagicus completely attenuated the two strains (A117 and G27). Passaging through M. rosenbergii changed pathogenicity of isolates (A166 and G9) from 95% to 5% cumulative mortality in experimental infections. WSSV was unable to infect Artemia and could not transmit the disease to P. monodon. WSSV (A117) passaged through P. monodon retained its virulence. An examination of tandem repeats (TR) in ORF 94 of the WSSV genome revealed variations upon passaging through different hosts. One isolate (A117), with 12 TR yielded 8 TR when passaged through P. pelagicus and 18 TR when passaged through P. monodon. Two other isolates (G9 and G27) with 9 TR, retained them when passaged through P. monodon and P. sanguinolentus but yielded 8 and 12 TR when passaged through P. pelagicus and M. rosenbergii, respectively. Thus, differences in TR number appeared to result from host selection rather than geographical isolation.     

Panagrellus redivivus (Linné) as a live food organism in the early rearing of the catfish Synodontis petricola (Matthes)

The nematode Panagrellus redivivus (Linné) has been suggested as a source of live food in the rearing of larval fish and shrimp species. This study tested the use of P. redivivus in the early rearing of the bottom‐feeding catfish Synodontis petricola (Matthes). A comparison of feeding rates of 5000–10 000 nematodes larva⁻¹ day⁻¹ showed that fish receiving 5000 nematodes larva⁻¹ day⁻¹ grew faster than those fed a dry diet, but slower than treatments fed 200 and 600 Artemia larva⁻¹ day⁻¹. Enrichment of nematodes with SuperSelco^® improved fish growth relative to a non‐enriched control treatment, with both treatments receiving 5000 nematodes larva⁻¹ day⁻¹. In the first two trials, feeding commenced 2 days after hatching. In the third study, fish were fed nematodes 6 days after hatching and there was no difference in growth between Artemia‐fed fish (600 Artemia larva⁻¹ day⁻¹) and fish fed 5000 nematodes larva⁻¹ day⁻¹. Thus, it is suggested to feed S. petricola at a nematode density of at least 10 000nematodes larva⁻¹ day⁻¹ in order to achieve growth comparable to that of fish fed Artemia, or, alternatively, to feed 5000 nematodes larva⁻¹ day⁻¹ to improve growth relative to that achieved with a dry diet. Furthermore, nematodes may be enriched with essential fatty acids to improve the growth of S. petricola larvae.     

卤虫在不同饵料培养介质中的生长规律

以啤酒酵母和单胞藻为投喂饵料，新疆艾比湖卤虫（Artemia parthenogenetica)为投喂对象，建立三个实验组分别进行研究，观察在不同饵料条件下艾比湖卤虫的生长，探讨不同饵料对卤虫的生长、成活的影响。通过对卤虫体长和存活率的测量，建立了卤虫在不同饵料情况下的生长方程、生长曲线和存活率曲线，并通过对方程和曲线的分析获得以下结论：投喂单胞藻组卤虫的生长最慢，存活率最低25表面以后全部死亡；投喂酵母组卤虫生长最快，在0≤t≤42.6时体长值最高，存活率较低，投喂单胞藻和酵母的混合饲料组卤虫的前期生长次于酵母组，后期生长超过之，存活率较高且成熟个体产虫量和产卵量也多于酵母组。     

Changes in amino acids and essential fatty acids during early larval rearing of dentex

Samples of fertilized dentex, Dentex dentex, eggs and larvae fed enriched rotifers and Artemia according to standard hatchery procedures were analysed for free, total amino acid and fatty acid contents. Egg free amino acids (53 nmol ind-1) and total lipids (13.5 (g ind-1) levels were considerably reduced in the newly hatched larvae (6.0 nmol and 5.7 (g ind-1 respectively) while the amount of -3 PUFA (Polyunsaturated fatty acid) and 20:4-6 remained unchanged suggesting their possible role as essential fatty acids (EFA) in this species. In general, the changes in pattern of the major biochemical components during early development of dentex was similar to that outlined for other Sparidae species investigated to date. The essential amino acid profile of enriched live food did not show major imbalances when compared to that of dentex larvae. In contrast, the level of docosahexaenoic acid (22:63, DHA) and the DHA:EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid, 20:5-3) ratio in larvae given rotifers and Artemia were significantly lower relative to the corresponding values in the unfed larvae.     

Intensive rearing system for fish larvae research II: Artemia hatching and enriching system

Live food such as Artemia is considered to be an essential part of any marine finfish hatchery. Standard methods were developed for hatching and enhancing the nutritional value of the Artemia nauplii by using different enrichment products. Although there is a variety of commercially available products in the market, further research on more specific enrichments for solving specific nutritional deficiencies in fish larvae is still required. A simple, compact and reliable experimental system was developed for these nutritional experiments. The system was built as a compact, all-in-one system with eight 50-l conical tanks in a water bath. The system reduces variation between the replicates (tanks), otherwise resulting from individual heaters and aeration. It reduces the manpower and time needed for harvesting and to re-establish the system on a daily basis by the ability to harvest, wash and refill all the tanks at the same time with the same volume of water. The system has been used for a variety of experiments, comparing commercial and experimental enrichments, bacterial monitoring and evaluation of different Artemia procedures.