Composition of the basal diet (Table 1) used in this feeding trial
was patterned based on the formulation used in the larval nutritional
experiment with P. japonicus by Koshio et al. (1991). Four
dietary treatments were used consisting of increasing dietary inclusion
levels of fucoidan (0, 100, 500, 1000 mg/kg diet). The
Experimental diets were prepared in microbound form following
the procedures described by Teshima et al. (1982). The diets were
prepared by mixing the dry ingredients with feed oil followed by
the addition fucoidan dissolved in adequate amount of water. The
binder zein dissolved in 70% ethanol was then added and mixed
to the resulting moist mash. Ethanol was removed from the mixture
by evaporation under reduced pressure and the resulting diet
were freeze dried, crumbled and sieved to appropriate sizes. Diets
were stored at - 28 °C until used.