European sea bass larval culture
Résumé
Marine fish larval culture is one of the main bottlenecks in the aquaculture industry. At hatching, most of the organs of marine fish larvae are not fully developed, and developmental processes initiated during embryogenesis continue during larval development in order to ensure the proper ontogenesis of organs and associated physiological functions, essential for the survival of individuals. Consequently, during the first weeks of life, marine fish larvae undergo significant morphological and physiological modifications to acquire all the adult features by the end of the larval period. This phase is certainly the most critical in the life cycle of fish, not only in natural environments, but also under controlled conditions. In aquaculture, in spite of the many advances made to control environmental cues, this stage of production can still suffer from substantial mortality impaired larval quality, influencing the overall performance of the rearing production, whose final objective is the obtention of enough fry of good quantity and quality for on-growing purposes.