Rearing Dover sole larvae on Tisbe and Artemia diets

The suitability of the harpacticoid copepod Tisbe holothuriae as a diet for larval and juvenile Dover sole (Solea solea) was assessed by rearing groups of sole for 42 days under a range of dietary regimes. Larval sole, approximately 1 week old, were reared on Tisbe, Artemia, or a mixed Tisbe-Artemia diet for 13 days. No significant differences in length between sole larvae from any diet were found after this time, but larvae offered Artemia alone showed a significantly higher frequency of malpigmentation than those offered the other diets. After metamorphosis (day 16), survivors of this experiment were reared for a further 29 days on various diets to give the following dietary sequences: Tisbe-fed larvae, fed on Artemia as juveniles (Tis.-Art.); Artemia-fed larvae, fed on Artemia as juveniles (Art.-Art.); Artemia-fed larvae, fed on Tisbe as juveniles (Art.-Tis.) and mixed diet fed larvae, fed on a mixed diet as juveniles (AT-AT). At the end of this period AT-AT and Tis.-Art.-fed juveniles were significantly larger than those on the Art.-Art. dietary regime. Juveniles from the Tis.-Art. dietary regime consumed more prey items than the Art.-Art group. AT-AT juveniles consumed similar amounts of food to Art.-Art. juveniles but were significantly larger after 29 days culture. This was attributed to the presence of Tisbe in their diet. Overall, the best larval and juvenile diet appeared to be a mixed diet throughout the culture period. © 1997 Chapman & Hall.