Broodstock diet effect on sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus (Lamarck, 1816) endotrophic larvae development: Potential for their year-round use in environmental toxicology assessment

The effect of captive broodstock diet on fertilization and endotrophic larvae development of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus was assessed. Maize grain and five inert pelleted diets were tested, during a three-month experimental period. Maize flour, wheat flour, soybean flour, maize/wheat flour (MWF) and maize/soybean flour mixes were used as vegetal sources for inert feed. Gonad index, percent egg fertilization and larvae malformation occurrence were compared with the results obtained from wild sea urchins (W). Whole egg total amino acid composition was concomitantly analyzed as a tool to explain eventual endotrophic larvae malformations caused by lack of specific nutrients. For all treatment groups (wild and captive), percent egg fertilization values above 96% were always observed, fulfilling the requisites (70–90%) necessary to conduct environmental monitoring bioassays, according to USEPA (2002). Similar values for normal percent larval development were only obtained from P. lividus broodstock subjected to an inert feeding diet based on a maize/wheat flour mix (85.0±1.45%), in comparison to wild P. lividus (82.5±1.75%). Likewise, no statistical differences on resultant whole egg total amino acid composition were observed between P. lividus fed MWF and wild treatments. Moreover, statistical differences between MWF and all the other captive feeding treatments were found for six out of the seventeen amino acids analyzed. This study demonstrates the possibility to obtain high values for P. lividus endotrophic larvae percent normal development based on broodstock held in captivity as long as an appropriate inert diet is provided.