Lipid Nutrition of the Spiny Lobster Panulirus Japonicus (Decapoda, Palinuridae): a Review

Abstract

The nutritional research on crustaceans such as the American lobster Homarus americanus and the prawn Penaeus japonicus has been reviewed by several workers. However, nutritional studies on Palinuridae are very scarce, particularly on the larval stages that are difficult to rear under artificial conditions. In the present paper, lipid nutrition of the spiny lobster, Panulirus japonicus, is reviewed and compared with that of American lobsters or prawns. Crustaceans have been shown to require lipids such as essential fatty acids, phospholipids and sterols. We investigated tissue uptake of [14C] n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids for the spiny lobster using [14C] labeled eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The results demonstrated that both [14C] EPA and [14C] DHA in the muscle and hepatopancreas were incorporated at higher levels (76 to 91% of total radioactive lipids) in phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylinositol than in neutral lipids (9 to 24% of total radioactive lipids). It was found that the ability for the bioconversion of EPA and DHA to other fatty acids is probably lacking in spiny lobsters. These results agree with those of studies on other Crustacea.