The Biochemistry of Sabella spallanzanii (Annelida: Polychaeta): A Potential Resource for the Fish Feed Industry

Abstract

To prevent over-exploitation of global fish stocks by the aquaculture industry, interest is growing in the identification of nontraditional species with potential value as fish feed. In this study, we investigated the biochemical composition of the polychaete Sabella spallanzanii . Its elemental composition, gross protein and proximate composition, amino acid composition, total lipid and fatty acid content, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content and the extent of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination were determined over an annual cycle. Sabella spallanzanii showed particularly high gross protein (54.8 ± 5.8%) and gross energy (4.89 ± 0.5 kcal/g) content. All samples had high concentrations of Na, K, Ca, and Cl. Saturated fatty acids were higher than monounsaturated and polyunsaturated ones. A low ω-6/ω-3 ratio (1.7) was recorded. Our results suggest that S. spallanzanii can be used as a dietary supplement for farmed fish. The high concentrations of certain amino acids that improve potential palatability for many farmed fish species suggest that S. spallanzanii extracts can be used in artificial fish diets as an attractant. A further original aspect highlighted by this study is the high concentration of GAGs, which are useful in pet nutrition and also in the nourishment of farmed fish with a partially cartilaginous skeleton.

Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture By-Products with Added Value: The Polychaete Sabella spallanzanii and the Seaweed Chaetomorpha linum as Potential Dietary Ingredients

“…This result is in line with other studies showing positive effects on growth, feed utilization, lipid metabolism, liver function, body composition, stress responses, and disease resistance determined by the addition of even small amounts of several algal-based meals to fish diets [39]. Moreover, the polychaete S. spallanzanii, due to its already investigated high protein content with noble amino acids [15] presumably contributed to improve palatability for the farmed fish species. This represents an added value in the hypothesis of fishmeal replacement, since decrease of fish meal, and/or fish oil, can lead to a decrease in palatability in diets with, as an example, an increased vegetal content.…”

Biosynthesis of Silver Nanoparticles by Marine Invertebrate (Polychaete) and Assessment of Its Efficacy against Human Pathogens

“…Polychaetes, the major taxonomic group in estuarine and marine ecosystems, occupy a large infaunal habitat and play an important role in bioturbation, transfer of organic materials and nutrients from the overlying water column to the sediment and vice versa [13,14]. Polychaetes are valued by the aquaculture industry as an excellent source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and they have the potential to supplement fish oil as sources of essential lipid components of feeds [15] and hence they are also entitled as Omega worms [16]. Therefore, in the present study an attempt was made to address the following questions.…”

Prioritization of knowledge needs for sustainable aquaculture: a national and global perspective

“…), as well as new innovations in technology and management, such as the use of polychaete worms (Klinger and Naylor ; Stabili et al . ), insects (Kroeckel et al . ; Rumpold and Schlüter ; PROteINSECT) and production of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) by genetic modification (see Ruiz‐Lopez et al .…”

“…Alternative feed products, such as microalgae (Durham 2010;Ju et al 2012), yeast (Hatlen et al 2012;Omar et al 2012), bacteria (Aas et al 2006), krill (Hansen et al 2010;Nunes et al 2011), plantbased sources (e.g. soybean, rapeseed, peas;Pratoomyot et al 2010;Sookying and Davis 2011;Sørensen et al 2011), as well as new innovations in technology and management, such as the use of polychaete worms (Klinger and Naylor 2012;Stabili et al 2013), insects (Kroeckel et al 2012;Rumpold and Schl€ uter 2013;PROteINSECT) and production of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HU-FAs) by genetic modification (see Ruiz-Lopez et al 2012 for review), need to be further investigated to reduce the cost of feed production, reliance on fishmeal and fish oil and the associated environmental impacts of use of feeds based on wild capture fisheries. These issues relate primarily to the production of high-trophic-level species that are the preferred product in western northern hemisphere countries.…”