Copepods enhance nutritional status, growth and development in Atlantic cod ( <i>Gadus morhua</i> L.) larvae — can we identify the underlying factors?

TL;DRAbstract

The current commercial production protocols for Atlantic cod depend on enriched rotifers and Artemia during first-feeding, but development and growth remain inferior to fish fed natural zooplankton. Two experiments were conducted in order to identify the underlying factors for this phenomenon. In the first experiment (Exp-1), groups of cod larvae were fed either (a) natural zooplankton, mainly copepods, increasing the size of prey as the larvae grew or (b) enriched rotifers followed by Artemia (the intensive group). In the second experiment (Exp-2), two groups of larvae were fed as in Exp-1, while a third group was fed copepod nauplii (approximately the size of rotifers) throughout the larval stage. In both experiments, growth was not significantly different between the groups during the first three weeks after hatching, but from the last part of the rotifer feeding period and onwards, the growth of the larvae fed copepods was higher than that of the intensive group. In Exp-2, the grow

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