Effect of tank volume on the growth and survival of reared Octopus vulgaris paralarvae

Commercial culture of octopus has not yet been achieved due to the high mortality recorded during the first weeks of life. Several researchers have pointed out nutrition as the key factor of influence on paralarval mortality in culture (Iglesias, Sanchez, Bersano, Carrasco, Dhont, Fuentes, Linares, Munoz, Okumura, Roo, van der Meeren, Vidal & Villanueva 2007; Villanueva, Escudero, Deulofeu, Bozzano & Casoliva 2009; Seixas, Rey-Mendez, Valente & Otero 2010; Seixas, Otero, Valente, Dias & Rey-Mendez 2010; Fuentes, Sanchez, Lago, Iglesias, Pazos and Linares 2011). Nevertheless, several other factors, such as culture volume, can influence the success in paralarvae rearing. The lack of a standardized culture technique has meant that some authors have reared paralarvae in relatively large tank volumes: from 20 000 L used by Hamazaki, Fukunaga, Yoshida and Maruyama (1991), 9000 L (Moxica, Linares, Otero, Iglesias & Sanchez 2002), 6000 L (De Wolf, Lenzi & Lenzi 2011) and 1000 L (Iglesias, Otero, Moxica, Fuentes & Sanchez 2004), whereas others have worked with smaller volumes: Villanueva, Koueta, Riba and BoucaudCamou (2002) used 25 L tanks, Carrasco, Arronte & Rodriguez 2006; 30 L and Seixas (2009) 50 L. This study analyses tank volume effect on growth and survival of octopus paralarvae in their first month of life, using enriched artemia as live diet. Protein and lipid composition of paralarvae were also analysed to have an approach to paralarvae condition. Materials and methods