Early development of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus, 1758) cultured in potassium-fortified inland saline water

Huy Quang Dinh,Ravi Fotedar

doi:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2015.11.025

Abstract

The low potassium concentration in inland saline water (ISW) restrains the normal development of cultured marine organisms, and thus, possesses challenges for the development of ISW aquaculture. Therefore, assessing the effects of potassium fortification in ISW on the performance of cultured marine species is an important step to determine the feasibility of their culture in ISW. The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of potassium fortification in ISW on the performance of early life stages of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis including fertilised eggs, trochophore, veliger and pediveliger larvae. These stages were reared in five different levels of potassium-fortified ISW, namely 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% of potassium levels equivalent to the potassium level in ocean water (OW) and two controls namely, ISW at 27ppt (ISW27) and OW at 25ppt (OW25). The results showed that the higher levels of potassium in ISW, particularly with 100% K+ fortification (ISW100K+), invariably improved the survival and size, and reduced the developmental stage interval and deformities of blue mussel larvae. Deformities, such as faulty cell cleavage, abnormal formation of trochophore larvae, protruding mantle in veliger larvae, and indented shell margin in veliger and in pediveliger, were observed when reared in any ISW. However, rearing in ISW did not result in any deformities in settlement larvae. The number of deformities was reduced at higher K+ fortification levels, and there were no deformities in pediveliger larvae reared in ISW100K+ and in OW. These results showed that K+ fortification in ISW improves the performance of the rearing of the larval stages of the blue mussel. Statement of relevanceThis study is the first attempt to culture larval stages of blue mussel Mytilus edulis in potassium-fortified inland saline water. The results have shown that that the larval development is feasible only if ISW is fortified with K+. By initiating larval culture in inland saline water, we expect better results will be reflected by adult stages.

Highlights

Salinization caused by natural and anthropogenic reasons (Bennetts et al, 2006; Szabolcs, 1989) has rendered more than 80 million hectares (Ghassemi et al, 1995) of land in more than 100 countries useless for agricultural production (NLWRA, 2000; Rengasamy, 2006)
This study aimed to investigate the effects of potassium fortification in inland saline water (ISW) on the performance of the early life stages of blue mussels
Marine species can be successfully cultured in ISW after ISW is either modified by fortifying it with K+ salts (KCl or potassium fertilizers) (Fisher et al, 2013; Fotedar et al, 2008; McNevin et al, 2004; Prangnell, 2007; Prangnell and Fotedar, 2006b; Tantulo and Fotedar, 2006) or formulated feed (Romano and Zeng, 2012; Roy and Davis, 2010; Saoud et al, 2007b) for the target species is supplemented with K salts

Summary

Introduction

Salinization caused by natural and anthropogenic reasons (Bennetts et al, 2006; Szabolcs, 1989) has rendered more than 80 million hectares (Ghassemi et al, 1995) of land in more than 100 countries useless for agricultural production (NLWRA, 2000; Rengasamy, 2006). The fortification of potassium to ISW has been shown to improve survival and growth rates in many adult marine species such as mulloway Argyrosomus japonicas (Doroudi et al, 2006), Australian snapper Pagrus auratus (Fielder et al, 2001), grey mullet Mugil cephalus (Barman et al., 2005), western king prawn Penaeus latisulcatus (Prangnell, 2007; Prangnell and Fotedar, 2006b), Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Liu et al, 2014; Roy et al, 2010), black tiger prawn Most marine species, when cultured in ISW, show a low survival rate (Fielder et al, 2001; Partridge and Creeper, 2004; Roy et al, 2009), growth rate (Partridge and Creeper, 2004; Roy et al, 2009), and a high risk of skeletal myopathy (Partridge and Creeper, 2004).

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