Production and nutritional adaptation of the brine shrimpArtemia sp. as live food organism for larvae of marine cold water fish species

Abstract

High nutritional value of Artemia sp. refers to high content of highly unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 HUFA) and in particular the content of DHA. In the enrichment experiments presented in this thesis new diets and one new Artemia species was introduced, and the lipid and fatty acid content in Artemia nauplii was followed during enrichment. Post enrichment the stability of the nutritional value was determined at different temperatures. In order to establish and optimise the feeding regimes for marine fish larvae, by introducing juvenile and older stages of Artemia sp., feeding rate and growth rate was determined when Artemia franciscana was grown from nauplius to pre-adult stage.

To meet the nutritional requirements of the fish larvae enrichment relative to larval requirements of the natural food sources was evaluated. Copepods and Artemia nauplii, live food organisms with different DHA content, was used in first feeding experiments with halibut larvae (H. hippoglossus) to examine how this influenced the DHA content of the larvae. Based on lipid and protein analysis of marine copepods these organisms can be used as a nutritional reference in order to establish, and further improve, the nutritional value of Artemia sp. as live food organism.