Open AccessPreliminary Studies of Energy and Protein Requirements of Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs, Limulus polyphemus , Grown in Captivity
Author(s) -
TzafrirPrag Tal,
Schreibman Martin P.,
Lupatsch Ingrid,
Zarnoch Chester B.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of the world aquaculture society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1749-7345
pISSN - 0893-8849
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-7345.2010.00430.x
Subject(s) - biology , juvenile , zoology , meal , fish meal , horseshoe crab , fishery , captivity , population , digestion (alchemy) , aquaculture , dry matter , energy requirement , feed conversion ratio , body weight , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , food science , endocrinology , psychology , chemistry , demography , chromatography , sociology , regression , psychoanalysis
Population declines of horseshoe crabs (HSCs) have led to conflict regarding management strategies among commercial fishermen, biomedical companies, and environmentalists. These conflicts have also led to increased interest in HSC aquaculture. In this study, feeding trials were performed with juvenile HSCs to quantify dietary energy and protein requirements in order to optimize feed formulation and feeding regimes. Trials measured digestibility of two formulated dry feeds based on clam meat or fish meal. Juveniles were fed 3% of their body weight (BW), fecal matter was collected, and acid insoluble ash was used as a non‐absorbed reference substance. Apparent digestibility of protein was found to be 93.2 and 90.8% and energy digestibility was 83.7 and 87.5% for the clam meal and fish meal feeds, respectively. Growth trials were conducted with juveniles (0.58–1.1 g) offering the two diets at increasing feeding levels in order to quantify their daily requirements for energy and protein. The results indicate HSCs would require 224 J of digestible energy and 8.7 mg of digestible protein for maintenance per day per gram body mass. The efficiency of utilization to deposit new growth above maintenance was relatively low and amounted to k DP = 0.11 and k DE = 0.13 for protein and energy, respectively.