Emerging Issues In Fish Larvae Research

This book deals with the fundamentals of key physiological mechanisms involved in the development and growth of fish larvae. Chapters included show how the environmental and nutritional conditions are affecting the developmental process from its molecular basis and how these same conditions also influence the final characteristics of late larvae and fry. This volume provides recent findings on the importance of environmental rhythms, some specific nutrients and the adequate microbial environment in the developmental processes including recent results of current research projects.

With the persisting need of animal experimentation for fundamental and applied research, the relevance and importance of the 3Rs Principle cannot be ignored. The 3Rs Principle was put forward over 50 years ago, providing an essential framework for more humane animal experimentation in research. In this half-century the research landscape within which this principle is applied has dramatically changed and evolved, with ever more emerging venues to explore for 3Rs advancement and implementation.

Aquaculture continues to grow more rapidly than all other animal food-producing sectors. The gap between seafood supply and market demand suggests a great potential for aquaculture development to meet the needs of seafood consumers. Larval fish rearing is a bottleneck to supply sufficient quantity and high quality of fingerlings for grow-out production. This book aims to provide comprehensive references on larval fish aquaculture. Specifically, it attempts to update the recent development in larval fish feed and feeding, environmental manipulation and hatchery management and to suggest future research needs for improvement of production efficiency in larval fish culture. Currently no book of this kind is available to cover major issues in larval fish aquaculture from an environmental, biological and managerial perspective. This book starts from environmental factors including temperature, salinity and light, and then extends to the major biological and managerial issues in larval fish rearing including live feed production, feeding and digestion, gas bladder development, metamorphosis, cannibalism control and weaning strategies. This book will become a useful reference text for researchers and hatchery managers advancing knowledge in larval fish rearing and a supplementary textbook for advanced courses in larval fish biology and aquaculture.

This book highlights the ontogenetic development of larval T. ovatus, provides a comprehensive overview of larval rearing of this species. It focuses on the physiological and molecular changes during the early ontogeny of T. ovatus and hatchery and nursery practices. The first seven chapters update the recent development in the hatchery technology in T. ovatus, including feed and feeding, environmental manipulation, hatchery management, and fingerlings in transportation. Chapter eight and onwards decode the possible molecular mechanisms underlying fish development and response to environmental changes and discuss the transcription and expressions of growth and development-related genes in T. ovatus. The last chapters discuss the functional feed additives to the diet and antibiotic usage of T. ovatus juveniles. This book is a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners and students in the aquaculture industry and related fields.

This book sheds light on the major functions of microbial communities in aquaculture ecosystems, showing that by recycling nutrients, degrading organic matter and preventing disease outbreaks, a variety of microbes are truly beneficial to a wide range of aquaculture industries. It discusses how deteriorating environmental quality enables some microbial strains to trigger disease, describes the development of highly sustainable tools to improve water quality, and identifies crucial factors that endanger microbial homeostasis in aquaculture ecosystems. The book also covers post-antibiotic approaches for preventing and treating opportunistic microbial infections based on harnessing environmental and fish-associated microbial communities. Furthermore, it explores how manipulating and engineering these complex microbial communities using bio-agents such as probiotics, phages, natural nutritional additives, or with fine-tuned biofilters will open the door for new ways to develop a more sustainable and cost-effective aquaculture industry. Including an accessible presentation of modern high-throughput sequencing technology to identify host-microbial interactions in aquaculture ecosystems, this book is a valuable resource for scientists, aquaculture and fishery experts, sustainability enthusiasts and scholars in the areas of biology and marine agriculture.

As sequel to Aquatic Animal Nutrition – A Mechanistic Perspective from Individuals to Generations, the present treatise on organic macro- and micronutrients continues the unique cross fertilization of aquatic ecology/ecophysiology and aquaculture. This treatise considers proteins and their constituents, carbohydrates from mono- to polysaccharides, fatty acids from free acids to fat, and waxes. It becomes obvious that these organic nutrients are more than only simple fuel for the metabolism of animals; rather, their constituents have messenger and controlling function for the actual consuming individual and even for succeeding generations. This aspect will become particularly clear by putting the organisms under consideration back into their ecosystem with their interrelationships and interdependencies. Furthermore, micronutrients, such as vitamins and nucleotides as well as exogenous enzymes, are in the focus of this volume with known and still-to-be-discovered controlling physiological and biomolecular functions. Aquatic Animal Nutrition – Organic Macro and Micro Nutrients addresses several gaps in nutritional research and practice. One major gap is the lack of common research standards and protocols for nutritional studies so that virtually incomparable approaches have to be compared. This applies also to the studied animals, since most approaches disregard intraspecific variabilities and the existence of epimutations in farmed individuals. Furthermore, recalling the Mechanistic Perspective from Individuals to Generations, dietary benefits and deficiencies have effects on succeeding generations. In most studies, this long-term and sustainable aspect is overruled by pure short-term production aspects. By comparing nutritional behavior and success of fishes and invertebrates, Aquatic Animal Nutrition points out different metabolic pathways in these animal groups and discusses how, for instance, fishes would benefit when having some successful metabolic pathway of invertebrates. Application of novel genetic techniques will help turn this vision into reality. However, a widely missing link in the current nutritional research is epigenetics regarding transgenerational heritages of acquired morphological and physiological properties. To increase public acceptance, nutritional optimization of farmed animals based on this mechanism, rather than genetical engineering, appears promising.

Feed and Feeding Practices in Aquaculture, Second Edition continues to play an important role in the successful production of fish and other seafood for human consumption. This is an excellent resource for understanding the key properties of feeds for aquaculture, advances in feed formulation and manufacturing techniques, and the practicalities of feeding systems and strategies. Many new updates have been integrated to reflect recent advances within the market, including special emphasis on up-and-coming trends and new technologies on monitoring fish feeding patterns, making this book useful for anyone working in R&D in the production of feed, as well as nutritionists, farm owners and technicians, and academics/postgraduate students with a research interest in the area. Includes new research information on using feed to enhance the sensory qualities of fish Presents the latest research in aquafeed and processing Provides the latest information on regulatory issues regarding feed and fish health