Lipids in eggs from first-time and repeat spawning Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus (L.)

Abstract

The production of viable larvae is critical to any aquaculture venture. Since lipids are important components of fish eggs, the amount and nature of the lipid may be crucial to the survival of the larvae. In this study the lipid content of unfertilized eggs from first‐time and repeat spawning Atlantic halibut females was compared. The egg lipid content for the first‐time spawner ranged from 0·18 to 0·41mg/egg; the range for the repeat spawner was 0·27 to 0·38mg/egg. However, the mean total lipid per egg values were similar for both fish at ca. 0·31mg/egg. The repeat spawner prodticed more eggs than the first‐time spawner, thus allocating more lipid to egg production. In the eggs from the two fish 62–84% of the lipids was phospholipid.

Utilization of yolk fatty acids by goldfish embryos and larvae

“…Egg fatty acid proportions, along with egg quality, are quite variable among females of this and other species, and even between different batches of spawn from individual females (EIdridge et al 1982;Ulvund and Grahl-Nielsen 1988;Wiegand et al 1991;Daniel et al 1993;McEvoy et al 1993;Parrish et al 1994). Differential or selective mortality of eggs (Rannestad et al 1994) with different fatty acid compositions would not be apparent in a pool and this could lead to obscuring real trends in utilization patterns of individual fatty acids, or creation of artificial trends.…”

Changes in the content of total lipid, lipid classes and their fatty acids of developing eggs and unfed larvae of the Senegal sole,Solea senegalensis Kaup

“…This could be due to different broodstock diets, different time of spawning season or the fact that the animals were second year spawners (McEvoy et al 1993;Daniel et al 1993;Sargent 1995). Total lipid fatty acid catabolism showed a very specific pattern.…”

“…Neutral lipids are generally considered the most important energy reserve in marine fish eggs and larvae (Vetter et al 1983;Blaxter 1988), but phosphoglycerides with their high concentration of essential (n-3) HUFAs are utilized not only for cell division and organogenesis but also for energy by some species (Tocher et al 1985a;Fraser et al 1988;Falk-Petersen et al 1986Rainuzzo 1993;Sargent 1995). Thus, the preferential utilization of polar or neutral lipids as energy sources during early development in fish is also species-specific and different patterns of lipid metabolism are apparent (Kimata 1983a;Vetter et al 1983;Cowey et al 1985;Tother et al 1985a;Rainuzzo et al 1992;Daniel et al 1993;Fraser et al 1987;Tandler et al 1989;Koven et al 1989;Mourente 1989;V~zquez et al 1994;Ronnestad et al 1994;Sargent 1995).…”

Composition, accumulation and utilization of yolk lipids in teleost fish

“…Although a relationship between (n-3) fatty acid proportions in the lipoprotein yolk and egg quality was noted in wild walleye (Moodie et al, 1989), no correlation between egg quality and levels of either (n-3) or (n-6) fatty acids in the eggs from individual females could be demonstrated in a laboratory population of goldfish (Wiegand et al, 1991) or in a farmed population of Atlantic halibut (Bruce et al, 1993). Substantial differences in lipid and fatty acid composition can exist, not only among the eggs of individual females in a population, but also among different batches spawned by the same female or even among individual eggs from the same batch of spawn (Ulvund and Grahl-Nielsen, 1988;Daniel et al, 1993;McEvoy et al, 1993;Parrish et al, 1994). If the variability observed by these workers is widespread among fish, difficulty is to be expected in relating egg quality to egg fatty acid composition, especially in natural populations.…”