Growth, survival and physiological condition of Octopus maya when fed a successful formulated diet

A formulated diet for Octopus maya that provoked a growth rate and survival higher than that observed when animals were fed diet based only on freeze-dried crab is reported for first time. Early juveniles (0.37 g wet weight; ww) of O. maya were used. Diets were made by mixing freeze-dried ingredients (crab paste; Callinectes spp. meal; (Cr), squid meal; Dosidicus gigas (Sq) and silages (Si)) all enriched with a mix of vitamins and minerals, and bound with gelatin, forming a paste. At the end of the experiment, Crab-Squid (CrSq) was the only diet that showed 100% survival, followed by Crab (Cr) (55%). The highest specific growth rate (SGR, % day− 1) was obtained in animals fed CrSq (3.04% day− 1) followed by animals fed Cr (1.96% day− 1) and Squid (Sq) (1.09% day− 1). Marginal (0.36% day− 1) and negative (− 0.73% day− 1) SGR values were observed in animals fed Silage-Crab-Squid (SiCrSq) and Silage-Squid (SiSq). Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that muscle glycogen and DG protein contents had the strongest influence on the separation of groups in a canonical analysis and were positively related with growth indicating that CrSq diets have the best nutritional characteristics to satisfy growth requirements. These results were confirmed when energy balance was measured.