Palinurid lobster aquaculture: nutritional progress and considerations for successful larval rearing

Palinurid lobster aquaculture: nutritional progress and considerations for successful larval rearing Francis, David (DS); Salmon, Matthew (ML); Kenway, Matthew (MJ); Hall, Mike (MR) The closed-cycle rearing of Palinurid lobsters in commercially relevant quantities currently represents one of the most difficult challenges facing modern day aquaculture. The length and complexity of the larval life cycle particularly exacerbates the problem, representing the major bottleneck to the successful aquaculture of this species. It is generally accepted that developments in the key research areas of nutrition and health will provide the necessary breakthroughs to make the closed-cycle rearing of this species a reality. However, given the cryptic nature of larval feeding preferences and complex morphology, a suitable formulated feed for their culture does currently not exist. There has been a wealth of research conducted in an attempt to further elucidate many of the unknowns concerning this species and provide insight into possible nutritional requirements. This review article presents a synthesis of this information, ranging from investigations of larval morphology and feeding behaviour, studies concerning the elucidation of wild prey items, the nutritional content of wild caught larval species and hatchery nutrition practices. Based on the information presented within this published research, this review article culminates with a ¿best guess¿ formulation for a larval spiny lobster diet, taking aspects concerning both the physical and chemical attributes of formulation into consideration. Ultimately, it is concluded that larval spiny lobsters are comparatively simple in their requirements in relation to other larval species, placing a major emphasis on the nutritional stockpiling of lipids to fuel an energy demanding metamorphosis and a subsequent period of non-feeding during the puerulus phase.