Nutritional composition of potential zooplankton prey of the spiny lobster phyllosoma (Jasus edwardsii)

Abstract

Despite the global significance of spiny lobsters, the biology of their planktonic larvae, especially their carnivorous diet, is very poorly understood. Unsuitable diets and feeding regimes are one of the major reasons for consistently high mortalities during larval culture. In an effort to begin to determine the nutritional requirements of phyllosoma larvae of the spiny lobster, Jasus edwardsii, the present study first characterised the proximate composition of 11 previously identified groups of their potential prey. This included gelatinous zooplankton (chaetognaths, ctenophores, tunicates, siphonophores, scyphozoans, heteropods and pteropods), crustacean zooplankton (amphipods, copepods and euphausiids) and fish larvae. The composition of the 54 samples of 30 species of zooplankton ranged over 79.2–98.1% moisture content, and 1.9–54.2% for protein, 0.4–11.2% for carbohydrate, 0.1–27.9% for lipid, and 3.9–76.4% for ash of dry weight. The results showed that, in the most, zooplankton species provide a reliable source of protein. Only a small number of zooplankton had high lipid yield, suggesting that a narrow range of zooplankton species high in lipid are likely to be targeted by late-stage phyllosomas. The results of the present study will be useful as a guide for the development of artificial diets to improve phyllosoma aquaculture.

The effects of pre-digested protein sources on the performance of early–mid stage Panulirus ornatus phyllosoma

“…This is supported by previous studies on the natural diets of phyllosoma, that suggest a preference for soft, gelatinous zooplankton (Jeffs, 2007;Saunders and Thompson, 2012;Wang et al, 2014b) which contain proximate nutrients in a highly digestible format (Jeffs et al, 2004). Thus, the administration of predigested protein has the potential to alleviate the limited digestive ability of larvae by imitating the nutritional format of their natural prey sources (Johannsdottir et al, 2014;Kvale et al, 2002;Rønnestad et al, 2003).…”

Condition of larvae of western rock lobster (Panulirus cygnus) in cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies of the Leeuwin Current off Western Australia

“…The results of the current study confirmed that there is pronounced lipid accumulation from Stage VI to VIII in phyllosomas of P. cygnus. This result suggests a possible change in diet in late-stage phyllosomas to prey with a high lipid yield, such as krill, as there is a narrow range of potential zooplankton prey in the wild with high lipid content (Saunders et al 2012;Wang et al 2013).…”

Production and ecosystem structure in cold‐core vs. warm‐core eddies: Implications for the zooplankton isoscape and rock lobster larvae

“…We posed the question as to why, in our recent work, rock lobster phyllosoma in CCEs are significantly healthier, with larger lipid stores, than those in WCEs (Wang et al , ). We hypothesized that CCEs were more productive than WCEs, but we disprove this hypothesis.…”

“…However, phyllosomas are not usually found within the LC at this time, as most phyllosomas remain offshore and further south, in cooler and (at this time) less nutrient‐rich subtropical waters (STW). There are a number of possible explanations for this spatial mismatch of phyllosomas and their prey, including an improved availability or quality of food in STW (Wang et al , b , ), offshore reduction in predation on evolutionary time scales (Wasmund et al ; Säwström et al ), or improved opportunity to be transported or recruited to more desirable locations on the coast (Caputi ).…”