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Nutrition and Health of Aquatic Animals
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Nutrition and Health of Aquatic Animals

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2025) | Viewed by 4793

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jianan Xian

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Tropical Biosciences and Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou 571101, China
Interests: crustacean; fish; feeds; aquaculture nutrition; functional feed additives; immunity; disease resistance; environmental stress
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ensuring that there is an adequate supply of nutrients for aquatic animals would enhance their growth performance, immunity, disease resistance, stress resistance, reproduction and physical health. On the other hand,  feed additives such as polysaccharides, antioxidants, probiotics, prebiotics and Chinese herbs, which are also known as immunostimulants, could significantly promote their immune response, disease resistance and stress resistance. The aim of this Special Issue is to publish original research papers or reviews concerning the nutrition of aquatic animals and the interrelations among nutrition, health and the environment.

Dr. Jianan Xian
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • nutrition
  • immunity
  • disease resistance
  • aquatic animals
  • feed

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 3126 KB  
Article
Effect of Coated Inorganic Micro-Minerals on Growth, Mineral Retention, and Intestinal Health in Juvenile American Eels Under a Commercial RAS
by Xiaozhao Han, Deying Ma, Yichuang Xu and Shaowei Zhai
Animals 2026, 16(2), 324; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16020324 - 21 Jan 2026
Viewed by 461
Abstract
Micro-minerals are essential for fish, but traditional inorganic micro-minerals (IMM) have low bioavailability. This study evaluated coated inorganic micro-minerals (CIMM) in juvenile American eels under commercial recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) conditions. Three experimental groups (n = 3 tanks per group, stocking density: [...] Read more.
Micro-minerals are essential for fish, but traditional inorganic micro-minerals (IMM) have low bioavailability. This study evaluated coated inorganic micro-minerals (CIMM) in juvenile American eels under commercial recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) conditions. Three experimental groups (n = 3 tanks per group, stocking density: 138 fish/m3) were fed basal diets supplemented for 56 days with: 1000 mg/kg IMM (IMM group, providing Cu 7, Fe 200, Mn 30, Zn 70, I 1.6, Se 0.4, and Co 1.2 mg/kg diet), 1000 mg/kg CIMM (CIMM group I), or 500 mg/kg CIMM (CIMM group II). Compared to the IMM group, the CIMM group I demonstrated significantly enhanced growth performance, with the specific growth rate increasing by approximately 31.14%, higher whole-body content and retention of minerals (Ca, P, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn), and superior intestinal health, as reflected by significantly increased activities of digestive enzymes (amylase and lipase), enhanced antioxidant capacity (elevated SOD and CAT, reduced MDA), and improved morphology (villi length and muscular thickness), an altered intestinal microbiota (increased relative abundance of Firmicutes and reduced relative abundance of Proteobacteria), and significant metabolomic alterations in purine metabolism and linoleic acid metabolism. The CIMM group II maintained growth performance, with no significant difference in WGR and SGR compared to the IMM group, while still showing significant improvements in feed intake and mineral retention (P, Cu, Fe, Zn), and antioxidant capacity. Collectively, this study not only confirms the efficacy of CIMM in commercial RAS but also reveals that the supplementation level previously shown to be effective in the laboratory (50% CIMM) is insufficient under commercial farming conditions, implying that the dietary micro-mineral requirements for juvenile American eels in commercial RAS may be higher than those established in laboratory settings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition and Health of Aquatic Animals)
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25 pages, 8759 KB  
Article
Effects of Replacing Fishmeal with Enzymatically Hydrolyzed Pork Bone Meal (EHPBM) on Growth, Antioxidant Capacity, and Nutritional Metabolism in Micropterus salmoides
by Xinlan Bai, Haifeng Mi, Dongyu Huang, Hualiang Liang, Wu Shan, Mingchun Ren, Lu Zhang and Tao Teng
Animals 2025, 15(23), 3359; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15233359 - 21 Nov 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 792
Abstract
In this 8-week feeding trial, we systematically investigated the effects of replacing fishmeal with enzymatically hydrolyzed pork bone meal (EHPBM) at graded inclusion levels (EHPBM0, EHPBM20, EHPBM50, and EHPBM100) in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). The results showed that the EHPBM50 group [...] Read more.
In this 8-week feeding trial, we systematically investigated the effects of replacing fishmeal with enzymatically hydrolyzed pork bone meal (EHPBM) at graded inclusion levels (EHPBM0, EHPBM20, EHPBM50, and EHPBM100) in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). The results showed that the EHPBM50 group maintained growth performance comparable to the fishmeal-based control, whereas higher replacement levels led to significant metabolic disturbances. Specifically, the EHPBM100 group exhibited marked reductions in final body weight (FBW), weight gain rate (WGR), and specific growth rate (SGR), along with an elevated feed conversion ratio (FCR). Serum biochemical markers—alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)—were significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner under EHPBM50 and EHPBM100 substitution. Regarding whole-body composition, ash content was significantly lower in the EHPBM50 group, while no significant differences were observed in other metrics compared to the control. Furthermore, dietary EHPBM inclusion enhanced systemic antioxidant capacity. All EHPBM substitution groups showed significantly increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, along with significantly reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. In key metabolic pathways, compared with the EHPBM0 group, the expression of mtor and rps6k genes was significantly up-regulated in the EHPBM50 group, while that of g6pase, fbp1, and cpt1 genes was significantly down-regulated. Intestinal integrity markers (occludin, zo-1) and nutrient transporters (pept1, lat1) remained largely unaffected except in the EHPBM100 group, indicating the species’ tolerance to partial fishmeal replacement. In summary, these findings demonstrate that EHPBM can effectively replace up to 50% of fishmeal in largemouth bass feed without compromising growth performance or nutrient utilization, while significantly enhancing antioxidant capacity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition and Health of Aquatic Animals)
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19 pages, 5481 KB  
Article
Effects of Dietary Fish Oil Supplementation on the Growth, Proximate Composition, and Liver Health of Chinese Stripe-Necked Turtle (Mauremys sinensis)
by Juntao Li, Yaopeng Lu, Huiqin Chen, Peihua Zheng, Xiuxia Zhang, Zelong Zhang, Li Ding, Dongmei Wang, Chi Xu, Xiaoqi Ai, Qiongyu Zhang, Jianan Xian and Meiling Hong
Animals 2024, 14(17), 2511; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14172511 - 29 Aug 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2735
Abstract
Dietary lipids provide energy for animals and can also be converted into other nutrients (such as non-essential amino acids), which play a role in saving protein. The Chinese stripe-necked turtle is a protected and endangered species that has been bred in captivity; however, [...] Read more.
Dietary lipids provide energy for animals and can also be converted into other nutrients (such as non-essential amino acids), which play a role in saving protein. The Chinese stripe-necked turtle is a protected and endangered species that has been bred in captivity; however, basic data on lipid requirements remain unavailable. In this study, 360 Mauremys sinensis (body weight of 65.32 ± 0.15 g) were randomly divided into six groups with three replicates per group; the turtles were fed experimental diets supplemented with various levels of fish oil (i.e., 1% (control group, CG), 3.5% (HF-1), 6% (HF-2), 8.5% (HF-3), 11% (HF-4), and 13.5% (HF-5)) for 10 weeks. The results showed that compared with CG, increasing the fish oil level promoted the growth performance of turtles, and the HF-3 group achieved the best effect. The HF-4 group showed the highest increases in the hepatosomatic index and viscerosomatic index. In addition, increased lipid levels also increased the crude lipid content and reduced the crude protein content in muscle tissue. Oil red O staining showed that the liver lipid content increased with the level of supplemented fish oil, which is consistent with the results of the hepatosomatic index. Compared with CG, triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased significantly in both the liver and serum when fish oil levels exceeded 8.5% (p < 0.05), while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased significantly. Aspartate transaminase and cerealthirdtransaminase levels in serum increased significantly when fish oil levels exceeded 8.5% (p < 0.05). Moreover, the activities of antioxidant enzymes (GSH-Px, SOD, T-AOC, and CAT) and MDA showed similar results, indicating that high fish oil levels (8.5–13.5%) caused liver tissue damage in M. sinensis. Increased fish oil levels significantly upregulated the expression levels of cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, TGF-β1, IL-10, and IL-12) (p < 0.05), downregulated the expression levels of antioxidant enzyme-related genes (cat, mn-sod, and gsh-px), and increased apoptosis of liver cells. Supplementation of the diet with 3.5–6% fish oil improved the growth performance of M. sinensis, and the turtles maintained a beneficial immune status. The results provide a scientific basis for optimizing the commercial feed formula of M. sinensis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrition and Health of Aquatic Animals)
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