Effect of diet on growth, survival and fatty acid profile of marine amphipods: implications for utilisation as a feed ingredient for sustainable aquaculture

Abstract

Rapidly expanding fed aquaculture demands high-quality, sustainable nutrient sources for utilisation as dietary ingredients. Exploring the potential of under-utilised resources from other industries is imperative to replace finite natural resources, such as fish meal. Marine gammarids may be an excellent source of essential fatty acids; however, their aquaculture using formulated diets remains untested in terms of survival, growth and nutritional value of the cultured product. Here, juveniles of 2 marine gammarid species, Gammarus locusta and Echinogammarus marinus, were maintained in controlled feeding experiments with 2 marine diets (Ulva spp. and Fucus spp.) and 2 terrestrial diets (lupin meal and carrot leaves). G. locusta exhibited higher survival rates, particularly when fed carrot leaves, an agricultural waste product. Fatty acid profiles of the resulting G. locusta product appear well suited for marine finfish nutrition, indicating high suitability of G. locusta as an aquaculture diet source. In contrast, whilst E. marinus may provide beneficial fatty acid profiles for aquatic animal nutrition, its poor growth performance in this study indicates that further dietary/culture research is required for this species. Our results indicate, for the first time, that marine gammarids are capable of trophic upgrading and can use nonmarine diets for healthy growth in culture, but their suitability as a formulated feed ingredient for specific fish or crustacean species needs to be investigated individually. Future research should include the development of optimal large-scale production as well as investigation of optimal methods of inclusion of gammarids as feed ingredient for target aquaculture species.

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

“…and brown algae Fucus spp.) ( Alberts-Hubatsch, Slater & Beermann, 2019 ). In another study, caprellids were fed on a diet of detritus from an aquaculture farm, and this resulted in excellent fatty acid profiles, comparable to those obtained when fed on phytoplankton ( Guerra-García et al, 2016 ).…”

“…They can be found in high numbers (>100,000 individuals m 2 ) in their natural habitats despite their low fecundity ( Oliva-Rivera, 2003 ; Lourido, Moreira & Troncoso, 2008 ; Woods, 2009 ; Vázquez-Luis, Sanchez-Jerez & Bayle-Sempere, 2013 ), and exhibit reproductive strategies such as direct development of the embryo within the marsupium and parental care that may be convenient for culture purposes ( Johnson, Stevens & Watling, 2001 ; Browne et al, 2005 ). 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.…”

“…Until recently, several studies have explored the culture potential of amphipods for use in aquaculture. These include studies on large-scale culture of caprellids, also known as skeleton shrimps, Caprella scaura ( Baeza-Rojano et al, 2013a ), culture of C. mutica in a public aquarium ( Nakajima & Takeuchi, 2008 ), amphipod culture (several species) within an offshore facility applying the integrated multi-trophic aquaculture concept ( Guerra-García et al, 2016 ; Fernandez-Gonzalez et al, 2018 ), and evaluating the effects of cheap diets and temperature using gammarid species ( Xue et al, 2018 ; Alberts-Hubatsch, Slater & Beermann, 2019 ). There are no established culture techniques for aquaculture purposes to date and a deeper knowledge on the reproductive biology, nutritional profile and culture methodology of species with aquaculture potential is still needed.…”

Biosynthesis of Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Marine Gammarids: Molecular Cloning and Functional Characterisation of Three Fatty Acyl Elongases

“…Such characteristics, along with the possibility to establish high density cultures [ 25 , 30 , 31 ], have prompted interest for using gammarids in aquaculture [ 32 ]. Importantly, some investigations reported on the ability of gammarids to be used in a wide range of sidestreams, in bioindustries such as aquaculture, forestry and agriculture [ 28 , 30 , 31 , 33 ]. Consequently, gammarids arise as promising candidates to apply circular economy principles by which sidestreams can be utilised for the production of biomass with high nutritional value.…”

“…On one hand, front-end desaturases (Fad) introduce double bonds (unsaturations) into polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) substrates; on the other hand, elongation of very long-chain fatty acid (Elovl) proteins (or commonly known as “elongases”) catalyse the usually rate-limiting reaction (condensation) in the FA elongation pathway and results in the extension of the pre-existing FA in two carbons [ 35 ]. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have reported on the molecular and functional characterisation of fad and elovl genes from gammarids, and the LC-PUFA biosynthetic capacity of gammarids has been only inferred from feeding experiments assessing the impact of dietary FA on body FA composition [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 28 , 33 ]. While the presence of Fad-like enzymes in crustaceans remains to be clarified [ 6 ], elovl genes with roles in LC-PUFA biosynthesis have been recently reported in crabs such as the mud crab Scylla paramamosain [ 36 ], the orange mud crab Scylla olivacea [ 37 , 38 ] and the swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus [ 39 ].…”