Can artificial diets be a feasible alternative for gonadal growth and maturation of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816)?
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1
Escola Superior de Turismo e Tecnologia do Mar, Politécnico de Leiria, MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Portugal
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2
University of Coimbra, CFE – Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Science, Portugal
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3
Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Portugal
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4
University of Coimbra, MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Portugal
The sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) is distributed throughout the Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea and in the North-Eastern Atlantic coasts, including the entire coast of Portugal. The high-value reddish-orange gonads are regarded as a delicacy, having France, Spain, Italy and Greece as its main markets. Intense harvesting has resulted in decline of many populations over the last decades, which is further aggravated by the slow growth rates of sea urchins. Therefore, echinoculture and scientific research are crucial to bridge the gap between supply and demand for this product, allowing the stocks to recover. In this context, the use of formulated feeds has been studied for sea urchins’ nutrition, in order to achieve market acceptable gonads throughout the year, in a cost-effective manner. Given the environmental and economic issues regarding the use of fishmeal and fish oil for aquafeeds, there is the need to find alternative products for the herbivorous P. lividus, such as vegetable products or by-products. In this study, in order to assess the effect of different diets on somatic and gonadal growths, gonadossomatic index (GI) and reproductive state, three jellified diets were developed, using agar, plus: maize and spinach (A); maize, spinach and the macroalga Laminaria digitata (B); maize, spinach and the pumpkin Cucurbita maxima (C). Sea urchins were first subjected to a starvation period of 30 days and the feeding trial lasted for 90 days, with daily measure of the ingestion rates. Results showed heterogeneity in all parameters, between the three diets. Diet C, and particularly Diet A, were the most successful in promoting gonadal growth. The individuals from Diet A presented a final mean GI of 9.07 ± 2.39%, starting from 3.33 ± 0.02% from the starvation period. While Diets A and C led to a marked advance in the gametogenic cycle (66.7% and 46.7% of the individuals with mature gametes, respectively). Diet B resulted in a slower progression in the reproductive cycle, more appropriated for commercial purposes. The present results highlighted the promising use of land vegetables and possible sub-products of this industry in artificial diets for a large scale echinoculture, contributing to the circular economy and also for preserving the natural populations.
Acknowledgements
This project has the financial support of Operational Programme MAR2020 through the project 16-02-01-FMP-0004: Ouriceira Aqua: Aquaculture and Enhancement of Gonad Production in the Sea Urchin (Paracentrotus lividus). This study had the support of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2013 granted to MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre.
Keywords:
Echinoculture,
nutrition,
jellified diets,
gonad maturation,
Roe
Conference:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Aquaculture
Citation:
Santos
PM,
Ferreira
S,
Albano
PM,
Raposo
AI,
Costa
JV,
Gonçalves
SC,
Baptista
TM and
Pombo
A
(2019). Can artificial diets be a feasible alternative for gonadal growth and maturation of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816)?.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00128
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Received:
26 Apr 2018;
Published Online:
07 Jan 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Pedro M Santos, Escola Superior de Turismo e Tecnologia do Mar, Politécnico de Leiria, MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Peniche, Portugal, pedro.c.santos@ipleiria.pt