Natural and cultivated zooplankton as food for halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) larvae

Abstract

Natural zooplankton were pumped into a collector and size-fractionated. The zooplankton smaller than 350 ym were fed on a diatom dominated algal suspension cultured in 3 m deep out-door plastic bags. Halibut larvae were kept through the yolk sac stages in large temperature regulated bags, and when ready to start first feeding, they were offered both cultivated and natural zooplankton. The composition of fatty acids in growing larvae were analyzed to study the influence of dietary lipids.