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Improving diet formulations for the early stages of European lobster Andreia Silva, Wilson Pinto, Luís Conceição, Sparos, Mike Weber, Estação Litoral da Aguda, Bruna Silva, Renata Serradeiro, Riasearch Unipessoal Lda
The European lobster, Homarus gammarus (Linneaus, 1758), is a large decapod crustacean of high ecological and economic importance. The stocks of this species have been overfished in the last few decades, leading to various interventions aiming at species conservation, with a concomitant interest in expanding this species production in aquaculture. Several breakthroughs have been achieved in lobster aquaculture, such as the development of hatchery techniques to ensure that stocks of this valuable species remain sustainable for future generations (FAO, 2017). Changes in European lobster management have been particularly important in the last decades, in order to restock the depleted populations. Research efforts have focused on improving water quality conditions and the development of novel rearing systems while improving farming cost-effectiveness. Farming of European lobster in the early stages has proven to be challenging due to its cannibalistic nature and lack of knowledge of its nutritional requirements. During the early life-stages, lobster rearing is highly laborious, with larvae relying on live-prey, such as Artemia nauplii, for good survival and growth. During the first month of development, larvae are pelagic, floating on tank surface layers. Once they reach post-larvae stage IV, they evolve into the benthonic environment, needing to be individually housed in single compartments to avoid the occurrence of cannibalism. Improvements in lobster farming practices are still dependent on the development of specific diets, particularly for the early developmental stages (Carere et al., 2015; Powell et al., 2017). Live-prey replacement has received very little research focus and no commercial diet is yet available for homarid lobsters. Replacing live feeds with dry formulated diets in the early stages can lead to a simpler, less costly and more reliable hatchery
Figure 1. European lobster (Homarus gammarus) juvenile.
production of the European lobster. Adopting these changes can provide consistent nutritional quality while potentially increasing survival and growth performance. However, to be able to produce a dry diet that meets the nutritional requirements of this species, further research is still required. Joining efforts with Riasearch (Murtosa, Portugal) and Estação Litoral da Aguda (V. N. Gaia, Portugal), SPAROS Lda (Olhão, Portugal) assessed the biological efficacy of tailored diets for European lobster in terms of growth, molting, survival and coloration changes.
Customizing diets for the early life stages of European lobster SPAROS (Olhão, Portugal) developed three tailored diets based on the following concepts: PROT – rich in protein; PROTCA – rich in protein and calcium; and STASH – rich in carbohydrates and calcium. These diets were formulated following the known and
Hatchery Feed & Management Vol 9 Issue 1 2021
