Introduction: Yellowfin seabream (Acanthopagrus latus) has considerable commercial
value in Persian Gulf and is a potential candidate for marine aquaculture in this area.
Despite great commercial interest, there is limited information about the biology,
nutritional requirements or techniques for larval rearing of yellowfin seabream
compared with other sparids. Larval nutrition and rearing is considered to be a bottle
neck for marine fish culture.
Material and methods: The aim of the current study is to evaluate effect of live food
enrichment with docosahexaenoic fatty acid (DHA) on growth performance, survival,
fatty acid profile and assessing the activity of digestive and antioxidant enzymes of
yellowfin seabream larvae. In this regard, enrichment emulsions will be prepared using
four different levels of DHA: Nil (N), Low (L), Medium (M) and High (H) for
enriching live food (rotifers from 2 to 20 dph, Artemia nauplii from 16 to 30 dph). In
order to evaluate effects of DHA on growth performance, digestive (brush borders and
pancreatic enzymes) and antioxidant enzymes sampling was done in days 1, 7, 15, 22
and 30. The whole body fatty acid profile and resistance to stress in larvae were also
assessed at the end of the experiment.
Results: Significant differences in survival, larval length, dry weight and wet weight
among dietary DHA treatments did not observed during the experiment (P > 0.05).
Although there was significant differences between dietary DHA and resistance to
salinity and air exposure stress at the end of the trial (P < 0.05). In the present study,
larvae tissue fatty acid concentrations generally reflect the corresponding dietary
composition. Differences in levels of total saturated fatty acid (SFA) and total
monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) were found among groups (P < 0.05), although
there were not differences in the levels of particular SFA like (14:0, 15:0, 17:0 and
20:0). Moreover, n–3 LC-PUFA especially DHA and EPA increased in larvae tissue
co