Echinoculture: the rearing of Paracentrotus lividus in a recirculating aquaculture system-experiments of artificial diets for the maintenance of sexual maturation

Over the past 5 years, with the growth of fish production and the improvement of distribution channels, the global fish food demand has also grown; in such a context, natural stocks of Echinoderms have suffered a marked reduction in production. This scenario was exacerbated for Pararacentrotus lividus by the fact that this species was recognized worldwide among the most reliable as a bioindicator, and its gametes have been used for biological assays for monitoring marine pollution. In this study, we focused on the maintenance of mature stage in adults of P. lividus using artificial diets. Two diets were tested: the first consisted of a mixture of maize and fresh seaweed, whereas the second diet was composed of maize and spinach leaves. The diets employed in this study, in combination with a 10H L: 14H D light regime and a water temperature of 14 A degrees C, ensured the maintenance of animals into a mature stage for a 4-month period. This breeding period permitted them to overcome the summer months during which it is not possible to obtain gametes from organisms belonging to wild population at our latitude. Meanwhile, diets guaranteed a considerable gonadal growth when compared with the natural population.