LIPID AND FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF CUTTLEFISH {SEPIA OFFICINALIS) OF DIFFERENT AGES FED WITH SHRIMP AND FISH FRY

摘要

Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) is characterized by a short life cycles, fast growth rates and relatively easy reproduction in captivity. These characteristics make cuttlefish a promising animal for commercial aquaculture (Lee et al., 1998). In previous experience, cuttlefish has been fed with live or frozen prey such as fish or crustacean but several authors have reported a lower growth and survival when using fish to feed cuttlefish compared to when crustacean are used (Domingues et al., 2004). On the other hand, in the wild, cuttlefish are known to change their diet with the importance of fish increasing and crustacean decreasing, during growth (Castro and Guerra, 1990). In the present study, cuttlefish of 60-day-old (Group I) and 120-day-old (Group II) were fed with shrimp and fish fry to determine the effect of these preys on their growth after 60 days. Lipid composition of the different prey and mantle of cuttlefish from both dietary groups has been analysed in order to get a better evaluationof dietary sources and their effects on final composition of cuttlefish.