Natural food (NF, control), artificial diets (AD) containing total lipid levels of 10%, 12% and 14% (AD10, AD12 and AD14) and their combinations (AD10+NF, AD12+NF and AD14+NF) were fed for 112 days to pond‐sourced eyestalk‐ablated mud crab Scylla serrata (625±6.4 g) in tanks in order to determine their effects on reproduction and lipid profiles in broodstock tissues and zoeae. Crabs fed NF had the highest number of spawning followed by crabs fed AD10+NF and AD14+NF. Higher offspring production (number of zoeae) was obtained from crabs fed NF and AD+NF than from AD. As dietary total lipid levels increased, total lipid of broodstock ovaries, hepatopancreas, muscle and zoeae correspondingly increased in which AD+NF promoted higher levels than AD. Increased dietary total lipid levels enhanced lipid classes such as triacylglycerols and phosphatidyl choline levels in zoeae, all higher in crabs fed AD+NF than in AD. The major fatty acids in zoeae, particularly 16:0, 18:0, 18:1n‐9 and 20:4n‐6, 20:5n‐3 and 22:6n‐3, were higher in crabs fed AD+NF than in AD, the contents corresponding to broodstock dietary total lipid levels. A 10% total lipid in AD in combination with NF was sufficient to provide the essential lipids in crabs in the improvement of larval production and quality.

No abstract

Wild‐caught and pond‐reared female mud crab Scylla serrata at different stages of ovarian maturation were collected from Samar and Capiz, Philippines. Crabs were categorized into five stages according to the external morphological and microscopic appearance of the most advanced oocytes. The ovaries, hepatopancreas, muscle and newly spawned eggs (NSE) were analysed for lipid class components and fatty acids. Total lipid was higher in pond‐reared than in wild‐caught crabs but increased with ovarian maturation in both groups. Ovarian lipid peaked at the fully mature stage, coinciding with a decline in hepatopancreatic and muscle lipids. Lipid levels declined significantly in spent females. The tissues contained elevated highly unsaturated fatty acids such as arachidonic (20:4n‐6), eicosapentaenoic (20:5n‐3) and docosahexaenoic (22:6n‐3) acids, but at higher levels in late maturing and fully mature ovaries and in NSE. The type of lipid class and fatty acid components in mature ovaries as well as in NSE are generally considered to be indicative of their importance in reproductive physiology and embryonic and larval development.

No abstract

No abstract