Survival and quality of halibut larvae (Hippoglossus hippoglossus L.) in intensive farming: Possible impact of the intestinal bacterial community

The high mortality commonly observed during the early life stages of intensively reared halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus L) is believed to be caused by e.g. opportunistic bacteria. However, the impact of particular bacterial species is poorly defined and still remains disputable. The study describes the bacterial diversity in the gastrointestinal tract of halibut larvae in a large number of incubators at a commercial production site. The overall success of larvae was found to be highly variable and analysis of the gut microbiota revealed high variation of the cultivable part as well as the bacterial community of surface sterilised larvae analysed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR amplified 16s rDNA products. Analysis of the bacterial community of unfed yolk sac larvae revealed higher diversity than previously reported, with Marinomonas, Marinobacter, Aeromonas and Shewanella dominating the community structure. There are indications that Marinomonas is found only in the overall most successful first feeding larvae of the period where the Vibrio group dominated the bacterial community together with Shewanella. Vibrio wodanis was identified as a part of the bacterial community of feeding larvae that yielded the poorest overall success of the period. α-Proteobacteria, not previously reported in halibut, were also found as a part of the bacterial community of first feeding larvae. The diverse bacterial community was only partly reflected in the cultivable part which, however, may reflect the dominating bacterial groups of the highly heterogeneous bacterial community of larvae in the production system as a whole. The bacterial community of the Artemia was found to be highly variable in different samples collected through the period. Only a small part of the different groups observed in the bacterial community of surface sterilised larvae was reflected in the cultivable part which was dominated by highly variable groups in different samples of Artemia. Also, the numbers of cultivable bacteria were found to positively correlate with jaw deformation of unfed yolk sac larvae as well as incomplete metamorphosis of feeding larvae.     

Microstructure and texture of fresh and smoked Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., fillets from fish reared and slaughtered under different conditions

This study was carried out to examine differences in microstructure and texture of fresh and smoked farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. fillets with different biological characteristics. The left fillet was analysed fresh and compared with the salted and smoked right fillet from each individual fish. Light microscopy and image analysing techniques were used to study both transversal and longitudinal sections of the muscle. The fish muscle fibres shrank during the salting and smoking process, but sarcomere length did not change. After smoking, a considerable number of fat globules were dispersed among the muscle fibres. The biological characteristics studied were based upon diploid and triploid fish held in both sea cages and land‐based tanks. Different starvation times were used and one group was stressed during slaughter. The cross‐sectional area of muscle fibres from triploid fish was found to be larger than from diploid fish, both in fresh and smoked fillets.     

Textural properties of raw Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fillets measured by different methods in comparison to expressible moisture

Textural properties of fresh Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) fillets were measured on seven locations along the fillet by four different instrumental methods, and were correlated to expressible moisture. Two methods were based on puncturing, either by using a flat ended cylinder, measuring hardness at different distances into the fillet and the first fracture (yield point) of the muscle fibres, or by a non-destructive method using a spherical probe to measure the hardness of the fillet. The other two methods were based on Kramer shear-compression cell or Warner-Bratzler shear cell, by shearing the fillet with blades, measuring the shear force (toughness). The ability to separate textural properties in different muscle segments by using these four methods were compared. The expressible moisture, was determined by using the filter paper method by compression. Hardness and shear force of the fillets generally increased from the anterior to the posterior part of the fillet while the necessary force applied to map the yield point decreased towards the tail section. The results from the present study indicated that the puncture method with the spherical probe and the shearing device by Warner-Bratzler were better suited for measuring differences in the textural properties between different parts of raw salmon fillet, than the flat ended cylinder and Kramer shear compression cell. The expressible moisture, varying between 1.8 and 2.7%, showed a significant ( P  < 0.05) linear correlation with the spherical probe texture measurements ( r =0.83) and the Kramer shear compression cell ( r =0.77).