Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2423504 | Aquaculture | 2010 | 9 Pages |
The influence of diet on growth, lipid and fatty acid compositions of Octopus vulgaris was investigated.Five experimental feeding groups were set up: Dietary Group I (DG I; mixture of crab Carcinus mediterraneus, bogue fish Boops boops and mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis), Dietary Group II (DG II; monodiet of B. boops), Dietary Group III: (DG III; monodiet of M. galloprovincialis), Dietary Group IV: (DG IV; monodiet of Maja crispata), and Dietary Group V: (DG V; mixture of crab M. crispata and fish Diplodus vulgaris).At the end of the experiment (30 days) growth performances and feed efficiency (FE) of cultured octopuses were affected by the diet. The growth of octopus fed DG IV was significantly higher than that of the other groups followed by DG V and DG II. The best FE was obtained for octopuses fed DG II and DG V.The proximate composition of octopuses (cultured and wild) revealed that reared octopuses contained significantly higher protein levels and lower lipid levels compared to wild counterparts. All the octopuses were rich in phospholipids and cholesterol and poor in triacylglycerols, except the octopuses fed DG II that showed the highest cholesterol and triacylglycerol contents. In general fatty acid (FA) profiles of reared octopuses reflected dietary FA composition. Saturated fatty acids (SAFAs) were the most abundant both in wild and reared octopuses. The most abundant SAFA was palmitic acid (16:0) that was generally high in the octopuses regardless of prey.Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were the second most abundant fatty acid class in all dietary treatments (30.77–37.87% of total FAs) except in octopuses fed mussels (23.94% of total FAs). The PUFA content of octopuses fed bogue was highest. It was also observed that the content of PUFAs changed significantly among octopuses fed different diet types.Docosahexaenoic (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic (EPA) acids were the predominant PUFAs, both in wild and reared octopuses. Significant differences were found among feeding treatments with octopuses fed M. crispata + D. vulgaris having significantly higher concentrations of EPA and DHA and similar to that observed in the furnished prey.These results demonstrated that octopuses showed the best growth rates when fed prey that supplied a larger quantity of EPA and DHA.