The role of nutrition in cataract formation in farmed fish.

Abstract

Abstract A brief overview of the lens anatomy and biochemistry, characteristics of cataract development in fish, as well as diagnostic techniques and evaluation of findings are given, before the role of nutrition on cataract development in fish is discussed. Nutritionally related cataracts are described based on single nutrient groups. However, in most of the studies on nutrition and cataract, interactions between several nutrients cannot be excluded, especially observed in relation to the major changes in feed composition during the last decades and the search for alternative feed ingredients. Environmental factors in aquaculture, as well as differences between fish species and strains within a species may also affect cataract development. Thus, although nutritional factors have been shown to be important in the pathogenesis of cataract, cataract occurring in modern intensive fish farming should be considered a production-related multifactorial disorder.