A plant-based diet supplemented with Hermetia illucens alone or in combination with poultry by-product meal: one step closer to sustainable aquafeeds for European seabass.

Background: Increasing demand for high-value fish species and pressure on forage fish is challenging aquaculture to ensure sustainable growth by replacing protein sources in aquafeeds with plant and terrestrial animal proteins, without compromising the economic value and quality of the final fish product. In the present study, the effects of a plant protein-based diet (CV), two plant-based diets in which graded amounts of plan protein mixtures were replaced with Hermetia illucens meal alone (VH10) or in combination with poultry by-product meal (PBM) (VH10P30), a fishmeal (FM) diet (CF) and an FM diet supplemented with H. illucens (FH10) on growth performance, gut health and homeostasis of farmed subadult European seabass were tested and compared.

Population Genetic Structure and Connectivity of the European Lobster in the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas.

Highly selective fishing has the potential to permanently change the characteristics within a population and could drive the decline of genetic diversity. European lobster is an intensively fished crustacean species in the Adriatic Sea which reaches high market value. Since knowledge of population structure and dynamics is important for effective fisheries management, in this study, we used 14 neutral microsatellites loci and partial mitochondrial COI region sequencing to explore population connectivity and genetic structure by comparing samples from the Adriatic Sea and the adjacent basins of the Mediterranean Sea.

Competitive feeding interactions between native Ostrea edulis and non-native Crassostrea gigas with implications of introducing C. gigas into commercial aquaculture in the eastern Adriatic Sea.

In order to detect the possible regulatory effect of non-native C. gigas on the native O. edulis, under aquaculture conditions, feeding interactions between them were investigated in a highly productive environment of Lim Bay (Adriatic Sea).

Spatial connectivity pattern of expanding gilthead seabream populations and its interactions with aquaculture sites: a combined population genetic and physical modelling approach.

In gilthead seabream the number of domesticated individuals increased annually, and escape events occur regularly in the Adriatic Sea. Still there is a lack of population genetic characteristics and evidence of the extent and geographic scale of interbreeding resulting from fish-farm escapees. We screened 1586 individuals using a panel of 21 neutral microsatellite loci in several consecutive years and here report on the medium-scale detection of hybrid and farmed seabream in the natural environment.

Ecological role of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) fish farms for associated wild fish assemblages in the Mediterranean Sea.

The ecological effects of tuna fish farms are largely undocumented. This study confirmed their high capacity to attract surrounding wild fish. The aggregation effect persisted year round, without detectable seasonal differences.