Influences of Dietary Lipid Source on the Growth and Fatty Acid Composition of Juvenile Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary lipid sources on the growth and fatty acid composition of juvenile sea cucumber. For 12 weeks, three replicate groups of sea cucumber (average weight 1.4 g) were fed one of three diets, containing squid liver oil (SLO), soybean oil (SO), or linseed oil (LO) as a dietary lipid source, or a control diet (CON) without added lipids. Sea cucumber survival was not significantly different among dietary treatments (P>0.05). The highest weight gain was observed in sea cucumber fed the SLO diet, whereas the weight gain of sea cucumber fed the SO diet was the lowest among dietary treatments (P<0.05). No significant differences were found in the moisture, crude protein, crude lipid, and ash contents of whole sea cucumber body among dietary treatments (P>0.05). Concentrations of 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 were significantly higher in sea cucumber fed the SLO diet than in those fed on the other diets. The highest 18:2n-6 and 18:3n-3 contents were observed in sea cucumber fed the SO and LO diets, respectively. The results of this study suggest that squid liver oil could be used as a good lipid source in formulated diets for juvenile sea cucumber.