An overview of jellyfish aquaculture: for food, feed, pharma and fun

Abstract

Interest on jellyfish research has significantly increased over the last two decades, mostly driven by the potential benefits of their high-end uses. Recent efforts have been put forward towards the commercial use of scyphozoan jellyfish, although the pipeline leading to their full exploitation is still at an early stage of development.Indeed, further research and several technical advances are still required to expand the use of these bioresources to a larger and more sustainable scale. Here, we describe the state of the art of culture systems already available to farm these organisms throughout the different stages of their life cycle and provide an overview of the potential applications of jellyfish aquaculture for food, feed, as source of bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical and other biotechnological applications, as well as to supply the marine aquarium trade. Overall, this work aims to raise awareness on the relevance that jellyfish will likely play on the development of sustainable blue bioeconomy frameworks fostering a sustainable valorisation of marine living resources.

Successful Culture of Pelagia noctiluca (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) Over Time: A Continuous Supply of the Holoplanktonic Jellyfish for Research and Industrial Applications

“…(Avian, 1986;Purcell et al, 2013;Rosa et al, 2013). The temperature range for culture is from 9-24°C (Purcell et al, 2013;Duarte et al, 2021), although temperatures around 14°C slowed down the development of planulae (Avian, 1986;Rosa et al, 2013), and previous captivity studies considered 18°C the optimal temperature for experiments (Lilley et al, 2014;Ramondenc et al, 2019). In the present study we observed an improvement in the development time from planulae to ephyrae at 3 days postfecundation (22°C) vs. the previously-reported 4 days postfecundation at 18°C (Ramondenc et al, 2019;Ballesteros et al, 2021b).…”

“…However, rotifers and Artemia spp. nauplii are the most widely used food for jellyfish farming (Raskoff et al, 2003;Crow et al, 2013;Purcell et al, 2013;Schaadt et al, 2017;Duarte et al, 2021). Previous studies identified good survival and ephyrae growth of P. noctiluca with Artemia spp.…”

“…Contrary to Lilley et al (2014), we do not recommend the use of immobile prey to feed early stages of P. noctiluca. According to the guidelines for jellyfish aquaculture techniques, a variety of frozen and immobile items (e.g., mysids, krill, bloodworms, mixed fish, fish eggs, and/or fish larvae) is suitable for advanced stages when feeding structures are fully developed, to provide additional nutritional value (Raskoff et al, 2003;Crow et al, 2013;Purcell et al, 2013;Duarte et al, 2021). Although the use of gelatin as the only food source was not satisfactory for P. noctiluca advanced stage (Figures 2, 3B), encapsulating a variety of items in gelatin helped keep the water cleaner and offered a wide range of elements in a single feeding time; therefore, its use is suggested as a nutritional supplement in the food regimens for jellyfish husbandry.…”

“…Most of the bioactive compounds are extracted from cnidarians derived from benthic species, while a limited number come from pelagic cnidarians such as scyphozoan jellyfish (Rocha et al, 2011). Although the full exploitation of jellyfish is still in its early stages, recent efforts have investigated the use of scyphozoan jellyfish as a natural source of collagen, fatty acids and bioactive compounds mainly extracted from the venom stored in their cnidocytes (Frazão et al, 2017;Merquiol et al, 2019;Duarte et al, 2021).…”

“…Moreover, the variability of environmental conditions and the seasonality of most species do not guarantee their availability when needed (Purcell et al, 2013). Under this premise, wild jellyfish can be a useful resource, but their production by means of aquaculture techniques is key to guarantee a regular supply for research, aquarium exhibitions, stock enhancement for fisheries and successful commercial exploitation (Dong et al, 2009;Purcell et al, 2013;Duarte et al, 2021).…”