Dealing with the presence of the ciliate Euplotes sp. in cultures of the copepod Acartia tonsa

Guillaume Drillet, Jörg Dutz

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Ciliates in live feed cultures can be a pest that lower production yields. This could dramatically affect the management and success of copepod cultures. In this study, we investigated the effect of the ciliate Euplotes sp. on egg production, specific egg production and egg hatching success of Acartia tonsa fed with Rhodomonas salina. We found that at a concentration of 2 cells ml-1, Euplotes sp. had no effect on the production and hatching success of eggs but increased/decreased the mortality/quality of non-subitaneous eggs. Euplotes sp. had a good fatty acid profile containing high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, but the amount of fatty acids compared to their carbon weight was very low and, therefore, it was considered as a poor food source. We propose a short-term interruption of food supply to copepod cultures in order to mitigate bloom formation of ciliates. This will force copepods to feed on them actively as prey and therefore decrease their long-term negative effects. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Original languageEnglish
JournalAquaculture International
Volume22
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)391-398
ISSN0967-6120
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Keywords

  • Agronomy and Crop Science
  • Aquatic Science
  • Ciliate
  • Copepod
  • Egg production
  • Fatty acids
  • Hatching success

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