The use of alternative prey (crayfish, Procambarus clarki, and hake, Merlucius gayi) to culture Octopus vulgaris (Cuvier 1797)

Abstract

The effects of two alternative prey (crayfish and hake) were tested on growth and survival of both juveniles and adults of Octopus vulgaris in two experiments. Octopuses fed the control (squid) were larger (3.0 ± 0.7 kg) than those fed crayfish (2.4 ± 0.6 kg) at the end of experiment I. Similarly, overall growth rates were higher for octopuses fed squid (1.7 ± 0.3 and 1.2 ± 0.2 %BW day -1 , respectively). Average feeding rates for the experiment were not different, being 6.5 ± 0.9 and 7.5 ± 0.9 %BW day -1 , respectively, for octopuses fed either squid or crayfish. Nevertheless, food conversions for the experiment were higher (42.4 ± 2.7%) for octopuses fed squid compared to the ones fed crayfish (23.9 ± 1.9 g). For experiment II, hake and crayfish were compared to squid; the final weight of octopuses fed squid, hake or crayfish was 1,183.0 ± 242.7 g, 1,175.6 ± 240.1 g and 922.3 ± 160.1 g, respectively. Overall growth rates for the experiment were 1.9 ± 0.2 %BW day -1 , 1.9 ± 0.3 %BW day -1 and 1.1 ± 0.3 g, respectively. Final weight and growth rates were never different (P [ 0.05) between octopuses fed squid and hake, but were always higher (P \ 0.05) compared to the ones fed crayfish. Average feeding rates for experiment II were similar for the three diets, and of 4.6 ± 1.5, 4.2 ± 1.3 %BW day -1 and 5.1 ± 0.9 %BW day -1 , respectively, for octopuses fed squid, hake or crayfish. Food conversions for experiment II were of 41.0 ± 9.6%, 40.5 ± 9.9% and 21.3 ± 7.4 g, respectively, for octopuses fed squid, hake or crayfish, and were always higher for octopuses fed squid and hake compared to crayfish. The results indicate that crayfish is not an adequate replacement for the usual prey to fatten octopus, even considering its much lower market price.

Effect of two fresh diets and sexual maturation on the proximate and fatty acid profile of several tissues inOctopus vulgaris: specific retention of arachidonic acid in the gonads

“…; Domingues et al . ; Prato et al . ), which along with efficient protein utilization (Mazón et al .…”

Biological performance ofOctopus vulgarisin ‘integrated aquaculture’ models: effect of two potential fresh diets, sex and sexual maturation during the grow-out phase

“…The potential of bogue as a temporary fresh diet for the ongrowing of this species was again confirmed in this study, in agreement with previous reports (Socorro et al 2005;Estefanell et al 2012b). Furthermore, growth induced by this aquaculture by-product was higher than those induced by single diets of fish provided by fisheries (Garc ıa Garc ıa & Aguado Gim enez 2002; Garc ıa Garc ıa & Cerezo Valverde 2006;Petza et al 2006), and even comparable to those induced by single diets of marine crustaceans or squid (Miliou, Fintikaki, Kountouris & Verriopoulos 2005;Cerezo Valverde et al 2008;Domingues et al 2010;Prato et al 2010). Also, the fast growth observed in O. vulgaris fed on high-lipid bogue (44% dw) suggests efficient lipid utilization, in agreement with previous reports (Estefanell et al 2011a(Estefanell et al ,c, 2012b.…”

“…In O. vulgaris, best growth rates were observed in specimens fed on marine crustaceans or squid (Cagnetta & Sublimi 1999;Garc ıa Garc ıa & Cerezo Valverde 2006;Domingues, Garcia, Hachero-Cruzado, Lopez & Rosas 2010;Prato, Portacci & Biandolino 2010); however, these food items are expensive and its use is restricted to research purposes. The identification of a potential natural fresh diet for cephalopods, which should be cheap, available and promote high growth, could represent a temporary solution for the implementation of octopus farming.…”

Replacing live feed with formulated diets in juvenile Patagonian red octopus (Enteroctopus megalocyathus)

“…The best growth rates in juvenile stages have been reported in O. maya (Martínez et al., ) using a moist crustacean‐based diet (3.04 %/day), followed by O. vulgaris (Biandolino et al., ), and E. megalocyathus (Pérez et al., ) with both being fed a natural diet (1.93 %/day and 1.36 %/day, respectively), and finally O. mimus (Zúñiga et al., ) with a moist agglutinated diet (0.7%/day). The lowest growth rates have been attributed to low acceptability (Farías et al., ; López, Rodríguez, & Carrasco, ; Pérez et al., ), low conversion rate (Domingues, García, et al., ) and low digestibility (Martínez et al., ).…”