Effects of Different Weaning Protocols on Survival, Growth and Nutritional Composition of Pharaoh Cuttlefish ( Sepia pha
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Effects of Different Weaning Protocols on Survival, Growth and Nutritional Composition of Pharaoh Cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) Juvenile JIANG Maowang, HAN Ziru, SHENG Peng, PENG Ruibing, HAN Qingxi, and JIANG Xiamin* Key Laboratory of Applied Marine Biotechnology, School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China (Received February 10, 2020; revised April 28, 2020; accepted June 12, 2020) © Ocean University of China, Science Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2020 Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the optimal weaning protocols for rearing juvenile cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis, as well as to understand the feeding habits of cuttlefish and develop effective aqua-cultural practices. The effects of four experimental weaning protocols (i.e., food type, cuttlefish size, food ration (bw d−1) and feeding frequency (meals d−1)) on the growth, survival and muscle proximate composition of cuttlefish juvenile were studied in quintuplicate. The weaning period lasted 2 weeks. The results showed that cuttlefish fed with frozen white shrimp (Exopalaemon carinicauda) displayed a significantly higher survival, growth parameters, ingestion rate, food conversion rate, and muscle protein content when compared with the other prepared frozen foods. The larger individuals revealed better growth performance than smaller individuals, especially in terms of survival and specific growth rate, indicating that larger individuals were more receptive to frozen prey. Furthermore, size grading should be conducted to ensure better growth during weaning. As food rations increased, the survival, growth and muscle protein content of juveniles were promoted, whereas the most appropriate food ration for cuttlefish juvenile was 35% bw d−1. Similarly, higher feeding frequency could stimulate the appetite of animals reared on weaning, and enhance survival, growth, and protein deposition compared to low feeding frequency. These results suggest that the optimal feeding protocols of juvenile weaning is as follows: the ideal prepared food is frozen shrimp, the weight of juveniles should be 4.0 g (32 days old) or more, the food ration should be 35% (bw d−1), and the optimum feeding frequency is 4 meals day-1. This study offers a promising starting point to successfully breed this candidate aquaculture species. Key words weaning protocols; cuttlefish; survival; growth performance; proximate composition
1 Introduction Knowledge of the biology of cuttlefish during the early life-history has expanded during the last decade as researchers have implemented laboratory tests to ascertain the critical processes that occur during the hatchling and juvenile life stages. Numerous laboratory studies have been directed toward evaluating the fertilized egg development (Samuel and Patterson, 2015), survival (Le et al., 2014), growth (Ramasamy et al., 2013), feeding, behavior (Anil et al., 2005) and nutritional requirements (Peng et al., 2015) of cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis. To establish appropriate rearing protocols, research efforts have focuse
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