Effects of rotifer and Artemia fatty-acid enrichment on survival, growth and pigmentation of summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus larvae

摘要

Enrichment of live feed for marine fish larvae with highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) has been shown to improve survival, growth and stress resistance in many species and to decrease pigmentation abnormalities in flatfish. An experiment was conducted in which summer flounder (P. dentatus) larvae were fed on diets differing in HUFA composition to determine whether enrichment with a commercially available product would increase survival and growth and reduce the incidence of abnormal pigmentation. The effect of growing unenriched rotifers on different species of algae and feeding these to flounder larvae on survival, growth and pigmentation was also examined. Growth of summer flounder larvae was significantly better when they were fed on HUFA-enriched rotifers and Artemia rather than unenriched ones; growth among unenriched treatments, was also significantly better when larvae were fed on rotifers raised on Isochrysis galbana rather than on Tetraselmis suecica. The percentage of larvae that failed to complete metamorphosis during the experiment was significantly higher in the unenriched treatments than in the enriched treatments. Neither survival nor percentage of individuals with pigmentation abnormalities was significantly different among the treatments.