Emergence of Plants in Fish Pigmentation

Abstract

Pigmentation plays a significant role in fish for consumer acceptability. Making and maintaining of aquarium containing pigmented ornamental fishes have evolved into a lucrative business in recent years. A number of pigments, primarily carotenoids are mainly responsible for the beautiful colouration of ornamental fishes. As fish cannot synthesize carotenoids de novo, there is a need of supplementation of carotenoids in the diet. Since natural sources of pigments are low-cost and more environmental friendly than the synthetic pigments, many studies have been carried out to test various plant-based natural carotenoids for enhancement of fish pigmentation. Forty-one plant species belonging to 28 families have been found widely used in imparting colouration to different species of fishes. Of these, 19 species were shown to be highly potential in fish pigmentation. Flowers, leaves, roots and whole plant are used in the study. Plant by-product like rice bran has also been used in fish pigmentation. The present review discusses about the potential plants used in fish pigmentation, their efficiency and the associative parameters along with the survival rate, growth and immune system promoter of the target species.

Dietary inclusion of roselle improves body colouration and survival of the whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) juveniles challenged against Vibrio harveyi

“…This finding showed that the natural pigment anthocyanin from roselle can improve the body colouration of the shrimp. This is similar to other plant natural pigments that improve the body colouration of aquatic animals (Singh et al,2021). The natural pigment derived from roselle can be an alternative carotenoid source for aquaculture animals.…”