DETERMINATION OF SEA BASS REQUIREMENTS FOR PROTEIN, ENERGY AND SOME ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS IN THE FIRST STAGES OF GROWTH

Abstract

Fish culture in Egypt has developed into a major industry. Sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) is one of the most important commercial fish species in Egypt and it is commonly used in aquaculture (El-shebly, 2009).

The European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, Linnaeus, 1758), being a member of the recently revised family of Moronidae. It was the first marine non salmonid species to be commercially cultured in Europe and at present is the important commercial fish widely cultured in Mediterranean areas. Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain, France and Egypt are now the biggest producers (Viale et al., 2006).

Fish culture in the Mediterranean is essentially based on two species, sea bream (Sparus aurata) and sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax).Their commercial production accelerated in the late 1980s and reached 87,000 metric ton (mt) in 1999 and 107,000 mt in 2000 in Turkey. The share of sea bass production was 47,600 mt in 2000 (www.feap.org; Fish Farm. Int, April 2001). The catch of sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) in Egypt from the Mediterranean has fluctuated between 266 tons in 1991and 559 tons in 1998 (El-shebly, 2009).

European sea bass cultivated in the Mediterranean region is a euryhaline marine teleost species (Tsevis et.al., 1992; Dalla Via et. al., 1998 and Varsamos et.al., 2001). The European sea bass are eurythermic (2-32°c) (Bamabe 1990 and EFSA. 2008). The common (or European) sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax L. (Teleost, Perciformes, Moronidea) is a marine teleost of great economical importance in the Mediterranean area able to survive under various salinity conditions. It is euryhaline species, (5- 60 ppt) (Jensen et al., 1998). Larvae of sea bass tolerate low salinities (5-6 ppt) and display better growth performance at (10-20 ppt) (Orhant, 2002).