A preliminary study on growth of Crassostrea gigas larvae and spat in relation to dietary protein

Diets of Chaetoceros calcitrans (Paulsen) Takano and Tetraselmis suecica (Kylin) Butch containing high or low levels of protein were fed to Crassostrea gigas Thunberg larvae and spat. The 4-day increment in D-larvae shell length was not related to differences in the ash-free dry weight or protein content of the diets at cell concentrations of 75–125 Chaetoceros μl⁻¹. At concentrations of 2–100 Chaetoceros μl⁻¹ the largest growth increment was found when 0.267 μg ash-free dry weight larva⁻¹ d⁻¹ (equivalent to 3.35 Joules · 10⁻³ larva⁻¹ d⁻¹) was filtered at a temperature of 28.1°C.Percentage settlement of C. gigas increased as protein in Chaetoceros, fed at 75–125 cells μl⁻¹ (P < 0.001), and in Tetraselmis, fed at 5–15 cells μl⁻¹ (P < 0.05), increased. Growth of spat during the 14 days immediately after settlement was better on a low-protein than a high-protein Tetraselmis diet (P < 0.001) but differences between Chaetoceros diets were not significant.