Dietary supplementation of essential fatty acids in larval pikeperch (Sander lucioperca); short and long term effects on stress tolerance and metabolic physiology

The present study examined the effects of feeding pike perch larvae Artemia, enriched with either docosahexanoic acid (DHA), arachidonic acid (ARA), oleic acid (OA), olive oil (OO) or a commercial enrichment DHA Selco (DS) on tissue lipid deposition, stress tolerance, growth and development, and metabolic rate.

There was higher tissue retention of ARA than DHA at comparable inclusion levels. No differences were observed between diets on the percentage contribution of ARA or DHA to the fatty acid profile of tissues (head and trunk). Total fatty acid content (mgg−1) was significantly higher in the head, reflecting its high content of neural tissue.

Observations on larval erratic behaviour and mortality following exposure to salinity stress suggested that high inclusions levels of DHA had an alleviating effect, while ARA did not. Particularly larval groups reared for 16days on diets enriched with OO and OA had mortality rates approaching 100% within two hours.

Interestingly, this tendency, although not as pronounced, was also apparent in juvenile fish after 120days of rearing on a common diet. Standard metabolic rate in larvae on an OO enriched diet was significantly elevated, but otherwise no groups had significant changes to their respiratory physiology.

In addition to increased stress challenge sensitivity, early feeding with OA had long term impact on pike perch neural development indicated by a smaller brain size in juvenile fish. In conclusion, lack of DHA in the diet of pikeperch larvae suggests that this long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid is involved in processes that increase stress tolerance and that lack of dietary DHA in early larval stage caused increased stress sensitivity and long-term impaired neural development, while it does not appear to affect metabolic rate at rest.