A Standard Reference Diet for Crustacean Nutrition Research VI. Response of Postlarval Stages of the Caribbean King Crab Mithrax spinosissimus and the Spiny Lobster Panulirus argus

Two experiments were conducted to determine if two proposed crustacean reference diets, BML 81S or HFX CRD‐84, could serve as nutritional standards for early postlarval stages of the Caribbean king crab Mithrax spinosissimus or the spiny lobster Panulirus argus . In the first study, after an eight week trial period, survival of postlarval crabs (initial mean weight = 20 mg) was higher ( P < 0.05) for crabs fed a control diet of commercial larval fish feed (66.7%) or BML‐81S (45.8%) than for crabs fed HFX CRD‐84 (16.7%). Final mean weight was also greater ( P < 0.05) for crabs consuming the fry feed than for crabs fed BML‐81S or HFX CRD‐84 (710 vs. 460 and 340 mg, respectively). In the second study, after a ten week trial period, survival of second stage postlarval spiny lobsters (initial mean weight = 0.20 g) was greater ( P < 0.05) for animals fed live adult Artemia (93.3%) than for lobsters fed HFX CRD‐84 (26.7%) or BML‐8lS (0%). Lobsters offered the casein‐based BML‐81S did not consume the feed and died within 25 days. Results suggest that BML‐81S may be an acceptable reference diet for Mithrax spinosissimus , but that neither BML‐81S nor HFX CRD‐84 is adequate for the early postlarval stages of Panulirus argus .