Use of Amphipods as alternative prey in cephalopods aquaculture

Abstract

Cephalopds need live prey to be cultured during the first part of their life, Mysids and Artemia are the only live prey that promotes better growth. The lack of alternative food to culture early stages is an important bottleneck for cephalopod large-scale culture. Amphipods (caprellids and gammarids) could be a potential alternative prey since they are easy to collect, tend to breed throughout the year and have short life spans. Furthermore, they could be less expensive to be cultured, as they can feed on suspended organic matter. Two experiments were carried out. The first using Sepia officinalis hatchlings fed for 21 days with three diets; saltwater gammarids, caprellids, and mysids (control), and the second with Octopus maya hatchlings fed for 15 days with saltwater gammarids, freshwater gammarids, and artemia (control). Animals were individually weighted at the beginning and end of the experimental period. Daily growth coefficient (DGC, %day − 1 ) was determined. According to the results obtained in growth rates of S. officinalis with mysids and gammarids (6.7±0.4 and 5.7±0.9 % DGC d − 1 , respectively), marine gammarids could be used as an alternative prey to mysids in the culture of S. officinalis . In O. maya experiments, marine gammarids were the best diet showing double growth rate than control with artemia (8.4±0.27 and 4.84±0.15 % DGC d − 1 ). This is the first study revealing a successful use of amphipods, mainly gammarids, as alternative prey for cephalopods hatchlings culture.