Publication Abstract

A dried algal diet for rearing juvenile clams

I. Laing, N. DePauw and J. Joyce

Heterotrophically-cultured, spray-dried Tetraselmis suecica (Kylin) Butch. can be substituted successfully for live T. suecica in a mixed diet containing the diatom Skeletonema costatum (Grev.) Cleve. in the indoor nursery cultivation of Manila clams (Tapes philippinarum Adams & Reeve). Spray-dried T. suecica has also been used to replace the live algal counterpart in the cultivation of rotifers and penaeids. Many diatoms, including S. costatum, are of high nutritional value as diets for juvenile bivalve molluscs due to their relatively high content of the essential polyunsaturated fatty acid 20:5 omega 3. Few of these diatom species can be produced heterotrophically and preserved by spray-drying. An exception is Cyclotella cryptica Reimann et al.

Reference:

I. Laing, N. DePauw and J. Joyce, 1991. A dried algal diet for rearing juvenile clams. pp180-181 In: European Aquacultre Society. Special Publication No.14. Breden, Belgium.