Feeding Sardina pilchardus larvae: prey versus larval size.
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1
Estação Piloto de Piscicultura de Olhão, Instituto Português do Mar e Atmosfera, Portugal
The European sardine (Sardina pilchardus) is a marine fish widely distributed but of great cultural and commercial importance in Portugal for the fresh and canning industry. During the last decades a decline in wild captures has been observed and its sustainability is currently considered at risk. The scarcity of sardines in the Portuguese market and the increase of its value has encouraged the development of studies on their viability for aquaculture production.
After successfully breeding S. pilchardus in captivity, the main concern was to understand what feeding protocol could be used to rear this species larvae. Therefore, larvae obtained from eggs spawned by wild breeders adapted to captivity since 2016 in Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) Aquaculture Research Station in Olhão (EPPO), Portugal were reared in 200L cylindroconical fiberglass tanks (one spawn per tank). The larvae were maintained in an open water system using the green water technique, at 16,1 ± 0,80 ºC. Since most of the studies on the larval development and foraging behavior of S. pilchardus were made by feeding them with dinoflagellates and copepods (not common in hatcheries), we have attempted to rear S. pilchardus larvae using mainly rotifers (Brachionus spp.) and Artemia commonly used in marine fish larvae hatcheries, cryopreserved copepods newly available on the market by Planktonic AS and ciliates (Euplotes sp.) isolated from contaminated rotifer cultures. Larvae were photographed daily to access growth and development. The different live feeds were provided, according to their size sequence (ciliates < rotifers < copepods < Artemia), to the larval tanks after verifying their acceptance. To test the live feed acceptance some individuals were isolated and observed in the microscope for presence or absence of food in the digestive tract, after a 30 to 60 min period after feeding. So far it has been seen that S. pilchardus larvae feed successfully on rotifers since 5 – 6 DAH, with a total length (TL) of approximately 6 mm, start feeding on copepods (of approximately 400µm) since 15 DAH with 9,5 mm TL and successfully feed on Artemia from 17 DAH onwards with 10,5 mm TL. These larvae feed first on the Artemia nauplii and only from 25 DAH (15 mm TL) they can prey the Artemia metanauplii. This study, still ongoing, is proving that it is possible to rear S. pilchardus larvae using the live feed commonly available for marine fish hatcheries.
Acknowledgements
This study had the support by DIVERSIAQUA (Mar2020 16-02-01-FMP-0066)
Keywords:
Sardine larvae,
Sardina pilchardus,
feeding protocol,
larval development,
Live feed
Conference:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Aquaculture
Citation:
Castanho
S,
Cordeiro-Silva
A,
Candeias-Mendes
A and
Pousão-Ferreira
P
(2019). Feeding Sardina pilchardus larvae: prey versus larval size..
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00138
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Received:
05 May 2018;
Published Online:
07 Jan 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Sara Castanho, Estação Piloto de Piscicultura de Olhão, Instituto Português do Mar e Atmosfera, Olhão, Portugal, scastanho@ipma.pt