Fatty acid composition of polar and neutral lipid fractions of Octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797 paralarvae reared with enriched on‐grown Artemia

Rearing of common octopus Octopus vulgaris is limited by the lack of success during the paralarval stage, with generalized mortalities occurring before the settlement of the juveniles. The use of on‐grown Artemia cultured with the microalga Isochrysis galbana and further enriched with Nannochloropsis sp. has led to a certain degree of success. The present work aims at studying the effects of this rearing protocol (Nanno) on the fatty acid composition of paralarvae, by comparison with a diet based on on‐grown Artemia further enriched with a high polyunsaturated fatty acid oil emulsion (M70). After 28 days, survival was estimated at 3% for M70 and 22.5% for Nanno, whereas the average dry weight was not significantly different (Nanno: 1.76± 0.28 mg; M70: 1.88±0.22 mg). Although apparently no clear association between the fatty acid composition of the enriched preys and that of the total lipids of paralarvae could be established, further fractionation and fatty acid analysis of the total lipids into polar and neutral classes, followed by principal components analysis, revealed that irrespective of the diet, both lipid fractions showed distinct fatty acid patterns. Besides, the fatty acid composition of the polar lipids was more conservative, whereas that of the neutral lipids was more influenced by the diet, showing more variation among dietary treatments.