The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of intensive farming on spleen and kidney histology. The study was carried out on sea bass reared intensively in sea-cages and fed with complete commercial diets. The control group of sea bass was wild fish caught in Tarska Bay, Istria. The investigation was focused on histological changes in spleen and kidney. Microscopic evaluation revealed ...

Since the late 1980s, gonadotropins have been isolated and characterized in several fish species, but specific immunoassays for the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) have only been developed for a few. The present study reports the development and use of a specific and homologous competitive ELISA for measuring FSH in European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) using a recombinant FSH and its spe...

Black sea bass in the Mid_Atlantic Bight, are exploited by recreational and commercial fisheries. To evaluate mortality rates, a tag release/recapture study was conducted with 13,794 tagged black sea bass (12,310 legal-size) released between Massachusetts and Cape Hatteras, NC from 2002 to 2004. Of these legal-size releases, 1,683 were recaptured during 2002 to 2007. An instantaneous rates conf...

Interand intraspecific crossbreeding experiments were conducted to evaluate the aquaculture potential of hybrids in the genus Dicentrarchus, focusing on fertilisation and hatching success. The experimental design consisted of 24 controlled crosses in which individual and pooled fertilisations were made between wild D. labrax individuals (8 dams and 5 sires originating from West Mediterranean an...

Kisspeptins are well known as mediators of the coordinated communication between the brain-pituitary axis and the gonads in many vertebrates. To test the hypothesis that gonadal steroids regulate kiss1 and kiss2 mRNA expression in European sea bass (a teleost fish), we examined the brains of gonad-intact (control) and castrated animals, as well as castrated males (GDX) and ovariectomized female...

With the rapid development of aquaculture in the Mediterranean, a number of parasitic diseases have emerged in cage-reared fish. In confined rearing conditions, the diseases can induce mortality and economic losses related to suppressed growth. With diversification of aquaculture products and the introduction of new fish species into the rearing system, new parasitic pathogens have found their ...

Three feeding trials were conducted to evaluate low-gossypol cottonseed flour as a replacement for fish meal in the diet of black sea bass and southern flounder raised in RAS. In experiment 1, diets were formulated to replace 0, 50, 75 and 100% menhaden fish meal protein (FMP) by glandless cottonseed flour protein (GCP) and solvent-extracted cottonseed flour protein (SCP), and to replace 100% F...

The cortisol stress response and the molecular programming of the corticoid axis were characterized for the first time during early ontogeny in a Mediterranean marine teleost, the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Sea bass embryos, pre-larvae and larvae at specific points of development were exposed to acute stressors and the temporal patterns of cortisol whole body concentrations and t...

The increasing demand for a sustainable larviculture has promoted research regarding environmental parameters, diseases and nutrition, intersecting at the mucosal surface of the gastrointestinal tract of fish larvae. The combination of laser capture microdissection (LCM) and gene expression experiments allows cell specific expression profiling. This study aimed at optimizing an LCM protocol for...