Effects of Salinity, Commercial Salts, and Water Type on Cultivation of the Cryptophyte Microalgae Rhodomonas salina and the Calanoid Copepod Acartia tonsa

Abstract

Marine aquaculture facilities positioned far from the sea need access to seawater (SW); hence, commercial salts are often the chosen solution. In marine hatcheries, most fish larvae require live feed (zooplankton) that are in turn fed with microalgae. The objective of this research was to investigate the applicability of commercial salts and clarify the potential effects on the cultivation of the microalga Rhodomonas salina and the copepod Acartia tonsa. Three commercial salts were tested, Red Sea Salt (RS), Red Sea – Coral Pro Salt (CP), and Blue Treasure Salt. R. salina was cultured at salinities of 10, 20, and 30 psu resulting in equal growth rates at salinities 20 and 30 in SW and RS mixed with deionized (DI) water. The optimum salinity for R. salina was 29 psu. For A. tonsa eggs, we observed highest hatching success in 30 psu with CP or RS mixed with DI water. The egg hatching success was not affected by salinities 15–40 and optimal hatching was obtained at 27 psu. Results confirm it was possible to use commercial salts for rearing of both R. salina and A. tonsa, widening the application of these species for aquaculture facilities without access to SW.

Effect of Different Salinity Levels on Population Dynamics and Growth of the Cyclopoid Copepod Oithona nana

“…Many copepod species can survive in different conditions while having very different productivity [3]. Having wide salinity tolerance is a very useful feature for the live prey in aquaculture and allows copepods to be fed to cultured larvae at different salinity levels [38,53].…”

Effect of Different Salinity Levels on Population Dynamics and Growth of the Cyclopoid Copepod Oithona nana

“…Many copepod species can survive in different conditions while having very different productivity [3]. Having wide salinity tolerance is a very useful feature for the live prey in aquaculture and allows copepods to be fed to cultured larvae at different salinity levels [38,53].…”

Influence of Salinity on Growth and Phycoerythrin Production of Rhodomonas salina

“…growth and phycoerythrin production in a high salinity environment has not been reported. Although Jepsen et al (2018) proved that R. salina strain K-1487 can be cultivated in a wide range of salinity (0-65‰), they did not observe the photosynthetic pigment content in that range. Jepsen et al (2018) also showed that salinity influenced the specific growth rate on R. salina strain K-1487.…”

Does resource availability influence the vital rates of the tropical copepod Apocyclops royi (Lindberg, 1940) under changing salinities?

“…R. salina proved to have a suitable cell size (~7 µm, Table 1) for feeding all developmental stages of A. royi and to be sufficiently nutritious to use as sole food source for maintaining the copepod cultures. Further, R. salina has a high salinity tolerance, with growth rates close to 1 d -1 at salinities between 5 -50 PSU (Jepsen et al, 2018).…”

Effect of Different Salinity Levels on Population Dynamics and Growth of the Cyclopoid Copepod Oithona nana

“…Many copepod species can survive in different conditions while having very different productivity [3]. Having wide salinity tolerance is a very useful feature for the live prey in aquaculture and allows copepods to be fed to cultured larvae at different salinity levels [38,53].…”

Influence of Salinity on Growth and Phycoerythrin Production of Rhodomonas salina

“…growth and phycoerythrin production in a high salinity environment has not been reported. Although Jepsen et al (2018) proved that R. salina strain K-1487 can be cultivated in a wide range of salinity (0-65‰), they did not observe the photosynthetic pigment content in that range. Jepsen et al (2018) also showed that salinity influenced the specific growth rate on R. salina strain K-1487.…”

Does resource availability influence the vital rates of the tropical copepod Apocyclops royi (Lindberg, 1940) under changing salinities?

“…R. salina proved to have a suitable cell size (~7 µm, Table 1) for feeding all developmental stages of A. royi and to be sufficiently nutritious to use as sole food source for maintaining the copepod cultures. Further, R. salina has a high salinity tolerance, with growth rates close to 1 d -1 at salinities between 5 -50 PSU (Jepsen et al, 2018).…”

Effect of Different Salinity Levels on Population Dynamics and Growth of the Cyclopoid Copepod Oithona nana

“…Many copepod species can survive in different conditions while having very different productivity [3]. Having wide salinity tolerance is a very useful feature for the live prey in aquaculture and allows copepods to be fed to cultured larvae at different salinity levels [38,53].…”

Influence of Salinity on Growth and Phycoerythrin Production of Rhodomonas salina

“…growth and phycoerythrin production in a high salinity environment has not been reported. Although Jepsen et al (2018) proved that R. salina strain K-1487 can be cultivated in a wide range of salinity (0-65‰), they did not observe the photosynthetic pigment content in that range. Jepsen et al (2018) also showed that salinity influenced the specific growth rate on R. salina strain K-1487.…”

Does resource availability influence the vital rates of the tropical copepod Apocyclops royi (Lindberg, 1940) under changing salinities?

“…R. salina proved to have a suitable cell size (~7 µm, Table 1) for feeding all developmental stages of A. royi and to be sufficiently nutritious to use as sole food source for maintaining the copepod cultures. Further, R. salina has a high salinity tolerance, with growth rates close to 1 d -1 at salinities between 5 -50 PSU (Jepsen et al, 2018).…”