Feeding the lined seahorse Hippocampus erectus with frozen amphipods

Vargas-Abúndez, Jorge Arturo; Simões, Nuno; Mascaró, Maité

doi:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2018.02.043

Cited by 17 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…These are a diverse group of benthonic crustaceans commonly found forming dense colonies in natural or artificial aquatic habitats ( Lourido, Moreira & Troncoso, 2008 ; Vázquez-Luis, Sanchez-Jerez & Bayle-Sempere, 2013 ). They are rich in essential fatty acids such as DHA and EPA, can feed on a variety of food including detritus, and can tolerate wide fluctuations of chemical-physical parameters, thus interesting candidates for aquaculture ( Guerra-García, Martínez-Pita & Pita, 2004 ; Fernandez-Gonzalez et al, 2018 ; Vargas-Abúndez, Simões & Mascaró, 2018 ). The present study explored the aquaculture potential of P. hawaiensis and E. pectenicrus , two cosmopolitan marine species that naturally proliferate in research facilities, displaying qualities desirable for aquaculture propagation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike some used preys, amphipods are naturally rich in lipids, including EPA and DHA ( Baeza-Rojano, Hachero-Cruzado & Guerra-García, 2014 ; Fernandez-Gonzalez et al, 2018 ; Alberts-Hubatsch, Slater & Beermann, 2019 ), which are main structural components of cellular membranes and precursors of bioactive molecules, thus playing a pivotal role in fish development and reproduction ( Izquierdo, 1996 ). Several amphipod species have been successfully tested as fishmeal replacement ( Moren et al, 2006 ; Suontama et al, 2007 ; Harlıoğlu & Farhadi, 2018 ) and as live/whole feed for seahorses ( Murugan et al, 2009 ; Vargas-Abúndez, Simões & Mascaró, 2018 ), octopuses ( Baeza-Rojano et al, 2013b ) and cuttlefish ( Baeza-Rojano et al, 2010 ), revealing promising results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…E. pectenicrus , in contrast, has been poorly studied with no prior published information on its reproductive biology or culture methods. However, a recent study suggested that this species could be an interesting candidate as alternative food to live Artemia , as feeding behavior of juvenile seahorses ( Hippocampus erectus ) fed this species significantly improved in terms of feeding rate and food intake compared to Artemia ( Vargas-Abúndez, Simões & Mascaró, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Marine amphipods as a new live prey for ornamental aquaculture: exploring the potential of Parhyale hawaiensis and Elasmopus pectenicrus

Vargas-Abúndez

López-Vázquez

Mascaró

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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Marine amphipods are gaining attention in aquaculture as a natural live food alternative to traditional preys such as brine shrimps (Artemia spp.). The use of Artemia is convenient for the culture of many marine species, but often problematic for some others, such as seahorses and other marine ornamental species. Unlike Artemia, marine amphipods are consumed by fish in their natural environment and show biochemical profiles that better match the nutritional requirements of marine fish, particularly of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), including eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids. Despite their potentially easy culture, there are no established culture techniques and a deeper knowledge on the reproductive biology, nutritional profiles and culture methodologies is still needed to potentiate the optimization of mass production. The present study assessed, for the first time, the aquaculture potential of Parhyale hawaiensis and Elasmopus pectenicrus, two cosmopolitan marine gammarids (as per traditional schemes of classification) that naturally proliferate in the wild and in aquaculture facilities. For that purpose, aspects of the population and reproductive biology of the species were characterized and then a series of laboratory-scale experiments were conducted to determine amphipod productivity, the time needed to reach sexual maturity by hatchlings (generation time), cannibalism degree, the effects of sex ratio on fecundity and the effects of diet (shrimp diet, plant-based diet and commercial fish diet) on fecundity and juvenile growth. P. hawaiensis, unlike E. pectenicrus, was easily maintained and propagated in laboratory conditions. P. hawaiensis showed a higher total length (9.3 ± 1.3 mm), wet weight (14.4 ± 6.2 mg), dry weight (10.5 ± 4.4 mg), females/males sex ratio (2.24), fecundity (12.8 ± 5.7 embryos per female), and gross energy content (16.71 ± 0.67 kJ g-1) compared to E. pectenicrus (7.9 ± 1.2 mm total length; 8.4 ± 4.3 mg wet weight; 5.7 ± 3.2 mg dry weight; 1.34 females/males sex ratio; 6.5 ± 3.9 embryos per female; 12.86 ± 0.82 kJ g−1 gross energy content). P. hawaiensis juvenile growth showed a small, but significant, reduction by the use of a plant-based diet compared to a commercial shrimp and fish diet; however, fecundity was not affected, supporting the possible use of inexpensive diets to mass produce amphipods as live or frozen food. Possible limitations of P. hawaiensis could be their quite long generation times (50.9 ± 5.8 days) and relatively low fecundity levels (12.8 ± 5.7 embryos per female). With an observed productivity rate of 0.36 ± 0.08 juveniles per amphipod couple per day, P. hawaiensis could become a specialty feed for species that cannot easily transition to a formulated diet such as seahorses and other highly priced marine ornamental species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Marine amphipods as a new live prey for ornamental aquaculture: exploring the potential of Parhyale hawaiensis and Elasmopus pectenicrus

Vargas-Abúndez

López-Vázquez

Mascaró

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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“…The supposed superior quality of several small species of marine crustaceans (e.g., amphipods and mysidaceans) over Artemia has been reported in seahorse culture (Palma et al, 2008;Woods, 2009;Otero-Ferrer et al, 2012;Buen-Ursue et al, 2015;Vargas-Abúndez et al, 2018). Those sources are among the mostly consumed preys by wild seahorses (Manning et al, 2019).…”

Section: Breeding Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

A Multidisciplinary Experimental Study on the Effects of Breeders Diet on Newborn Seahorses (Hippocampus guttulatus)

et al. 2020

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The global trade in seahorses is increasing and new rearing techniques are currently available for a few species. One of the main bottlenecks in seahorse production is reproductive success, which is dependent upon the administration of high quality diets to breeders. However, little is known about the most adequate diets, on how they should be administered and on how they might affect newborn performance. In this study, three homogeneous groups of adult seahorses Hippocampus guttulatus were maintained in captivity. Each group was fed on one of the following diets since the onset of the breeding period: unenriched adult Artemia (diet A), unenriched adult Artemia and mysidaceans (diet AM) and mysidaceans (diet M). As a positive control, a wild pregnant male was used. The mixed diet AM provided the highest overall breeding success and reasonable fatty acid profiles, and better resembled newborn from a wild male. The use of mysidaceans solely (Diet M) provided the worse results in spite of the high DHA content. Significant differences were observed in newborn characteristics and fatty acid profiles among dietary groups and along the breeding season, especially in total n-3 HUFA and DHA. Monospecific diets including Artemia or mysidaceans very likely suffered nutritional deficiencies, which were reflected in morphological alterations of the muscle tissue (diet A) or abnormal early mortalities in newborn (diet M). Three progressive stages were identified along the whole breeding period: initial mixed capitalincome period (100-120 days since the onset of the breeding period), followed by an inflection period (short transitional stage-income sources), and finally a long period characterized by the use of income sources and the progressive exhaustion of body reserves. Special attention should be deserved to the progressive changes in fatty acid profiles along the breeding season, resulting in a decrease in newborn performance. Considering the time required for a diet to be reflected in newborn, we recommend Hippocampus guttulatus breeders to be fed on a high quality diet for at least 3 months prior the breeding period.

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“…Dissimilarities like these have been explained by interspecific differences in the size at birth and the amount of energy invested in searching and capturing prey between large and small individuals (Koldewey & Martin‐Smith, ; Lourie et al, ; Zhang, Yin, & Lin, ). The mechanism seahorses use to capture prey is based on the snout's suction force and the size of the mouth; hence, larger individuals can feed on prey more heterogeneous in size, reducing the proportion of energy spent in feeding when compared to smaller individuals (Leysen et al, ; Roos et al, ; Vargas‐Abúndez, Simões, & Mascaró, ). In addition, Sheng et al () hypothesized that larger individuals, with better swimming abilities, spend less energy searching for food and therefore have greater tolerance to starvation than smaller individual.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of starvation on survival and biochemical profile of newborn juvenile lined seahorses,Hippocampus erectus(Perry, 1810)

et al. 2019

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This study assessed the effect of starvation on survival and nutritional status of newborn juveniles H. erectus (<10 days) to optimize rearing protocols, thereby helping to reduce wildlife exploitation. Maximum starvation time (MST) was estimated through the survival of juveniles continuously starved from birth. Resistance to starvation and the effect of food re‐introduction after 1, 2, 4 and 6 days of starvation on survival and metabolite concentrations (total proteins, total lipids, acylglycerides, cholesterol, glucose) were also determined. Survival amongst continuously starved animals decreased from 6.6 ± 0.5 to 0% from days 9 to 10 of starvation. Seahorses under different starvation–refeeding treatments all had 100% survival up to day 5 of experiments. After 10 days, however, a 4‐day starvation period followed by refeeding showed negative effects with <50% survival. During continuous starvation, lipids were the first energy reserve used to maintain basal metabolism, followed by proteins. Except for cholesterol, all metabolite concentrations differed between continuous starvations and feeding. Despite high seahorse survival after 5 days in the absence of food, the recovery of the metabolic status is possible after a starvation period of no more than 2 days, since irreversible physiological changes compromising the ultimate survival of the organisms take place after this time.

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Feeding the lined seahorse Hippocampus erectus with frozen amphipods

Cited by 17 publications

References 38 publications

Marine amphipods as a new live prey for ornamental aquaculture: exploring the potential of Parhyale hawaiensis and Elasmopus pectenicrus

Marine amphipods as a new live prey for ornamental aquaculture: exploring the potential of Parhyale hawaiensis and Elasmopus pectenicrus

A Multidisciplinary Experimental Study on the Effects of Breeders Diet on Newborn Seahorses (Hippocampus guttulatus)

Effect of starvation on survival and biochemical profile of newborn juvenile lined seahorses,Hippocampus erectus(Perry, 1810)

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